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Marco Polo

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1971, Charles “Ty” Sutton and Lemmon, Freeth, Haines, Jones and Farrell. 2333 Kapiolani Blvd.
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)
  • (Photograph by Kaoru Lovett)

If the Marco Polo were in Brazil, it would be said to have a samba curve, but as it is in Hawaii, it has a “hula shape.” Adapting the sinuous, rippling curves of Oscar Niemeyer's Dance Hall at Pampulha to a high-rise building, the architects developed an appealing thirty-six-story building with 573 units. Developer-owners Reed and Lloyd Martin, who were the builders of the Hawaii State Capitol (OA46), directed the architects to design the nicest, biggest condominium in town, and they wanted rounded shapes rather than a rectilinear box. Popular in Brazil, these curving forms found few imitators in Hawaii.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Don J. Hibbard
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Data

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Citation

Don J. Hibbard, "Marco Polo", [Honolulu, Hawaii], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/HI-01-OA126.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Hawaii

Buildings of Hawaii, Don J. Hibbard. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, 155-155.

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