Sidney and Minnie Kosasa Neighborhood at Punahou School

The Sidney & Minnie Kosasa Grades 4-5 Neighborhood (“Kosasa Grades 4-5 Neighborhood”), the first of two phases of Punahou School’s “Grades 2-5 Community” campus redevelopment project, is designed as a physical representation of Punahou’s educational philosophy for the 21st century.

Incorporating the latest research about the neuroscience of learning, the Kosasa Grades 4-5 Neighborhood includes four new, state-of-the art, two-story classroom buildings with four studios each, for a total of 16 studios. Because the 21st century educational pedagogy is based on the idea that learning occurs everywhere and outdoor learning environments are just as essential as indoor environments, the buildings were designed to blur the lines between indoors and outdoors, integrating the indoor classroom with outdoor gathering and learning spaces.

Inspired by nature, PBR HAWAII designed the three-acre site with a broad range of outdoor space typologies and learning tools that complement the flexibility of the indoor spaces, while carefully integrating the landscape to support Hawaiian cultural education, to cultivate sustainable behavior, and to create a sense of place.

Project Details

SERVICES
Landscape Architecture

LOCATION
Honolulu, O‘ahu

AWARDS
2018 American Society of Landscape Architects, Hawai‘i Chapter, Award of Excellence – General Design; 2021 American Society of Landscape Architects, Hawai‘i Chapter, Award of Excellence – General Design