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Waikiki Trade Center

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1980, Warner Boone. 2255 Kuhio Ave.
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)

Stretching two hundred and seventy feet along Kuhio Avenue, and avoiding any sense of boxiness, the trade center's twenty-one stories of slim-line design are stylish and well appointed. The soaring verticals and cascading horizontals balance each other, commingling and flowing together. The tower's tinted glass contrasts with smooth, creamy concrete, while tiny bubbles (portholes) effervesce up the sides. Octagonal forms add to the visual dynamic; the office tower, for example, trifurcates into octagonal minitowers of different heights. Oblique entrances penetrate the slightly recessed, slick, granite first story, expanding into a two-story shopping arcade. Chrome, brass, glass block, and mirrors sheathe the interior, augmented by twinkling strands of light and a babbling waterfall.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Don J. Hibbard
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Don J. Hibbard, "Waikiki Trade Center", [Honolulu, Hawaii], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/HI-01-OA138.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Hawaii

Buildings of Hawaii, Don J. Hibbard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, 161-161.

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