Hi’ilani

Since November, the Tridipanel team has been erecting the structure of the house with the SCIP panels. They began with the eastern side, building scaffolding to support the first roof until concrete supports are poured. Rebar embedded into the foundation extends into the SCIP panel walls to give extra strength. The panel connections are also reinforced with additional metal mesh. When the concrete skin is added inside and out, the entire building: roof, walls and foundation, will be solidly integrated, creating a building that will withstand earthquakes and strong winds.

In support walls, space for concrete support “columns” is burned or cut out of the panels, and rebar and reinforcing mesh is added. Forms are then built into which concrete will be poured to form the column. Once the support system is poured and in place, the scaffolding can be moved to other areas and reused. Eventually all the wood will be re-purposed, including the creation of built-in furniture for the interior.

Currently, you can see that one roof and walls are up on nearly half of the house and the scaffolding is in place for the largest roof, which will cover the living room, dining room and kitchen.

On November 25, a cloudy day with periods of strong rain, the Oili Construction crew worked its magic and poured the Hi’ilani House foundation. (See a time-lapse movie of the pour.)

Assisted by drivers and crew from West Hawaii Concrete, 140 cubic yards of concrete was poured in about four hours. By the end of the day, the slab was finished and the forms removed.

The Oili Crew proved themselves to be masters of their craft. For those of us who are not normally involved in this type of construction, it was fascinating to see the intricate dance that is required to pour a monolithic concrete slab like this.

All of the work done so far on this project has been exceptional. We are incredibly fortunate to have such wonderful craftspeople working with us.

Our hats are off to all the exceptional people and crews who have worked with us so far: Krochina Engineering, Ty Drake, DeRego Grading, Oili Construction, West Hawaii Concrete, Mattos Electric, Van Dijk Plumbing, and Hadrian Tridipanel Systems.

And, of course, we have a special thank you today for Robert Mechielsen, the master designer, and his team at Studio RMA.

It’s been an interesting week.

Robert and Bobby, the bulldozer operator, continued this past week to transform the hilltop site into the setting which will become Hi’ilani.

When this started we all thought that what this meant was to create a good flat site at the top of the hill on which to start the house foundation. This was certainly a primary objective. But as the vegetation was peeled away, and as the dirt started to move, events began to unfold that none of us expected. (Well, Robert may have expected them, but I think he was even surprised.)

As for that primary objective: we needed to take several feet from the very top of the hill to find the extent of the bedrock that will serve as the basis of the foundation. As Teri noted in her last post, the hill is a pu’u, which is a volcanic mound. The top had been previously scraped flat by a previous owner some years ago, and the dirt taken off then was pushed toward the ocean side. That dirt was still relatively thinly packed, and this fill could not be the base for any of the foundation. If the rock base was not sufficiently large enough for the house footprint, we would have to dig farther down for the key foundation footings and then backfill later.

After the bulldozer scraped down a few feet we found a large table of pretty solid rock. After each day, Dave and Robert would go up to the site and lay out the house to see how it matched to the rock table that was being uncovered.

Since the house is based on a hexagonal shape, the floor plan is laid out on a triangular grid. There is a large equilateral triangle which is 72 feet long per side which can be placed on the site, and the entire floor plan can then be derived from that. So Dave created the 72 foot triangle out of yellow string, and this was stretched out on the ground and oriented to quickly determine how the floor plan would correspond to the rock table.

Based on this, Robert rotated the house footprint about 5 degrees to the northeast. With this orientation, two things happened: the house footprint matched up with the rock table extraordinarily well, and it also perfectly centered the view lines for the three principal “wings” of the house structure.

The grading also revealed the general layout of the hill as it descended in front of the house. With the land revealed, Robert could start to plan how this front hillside will be shaped to complement and enhance the house design.

As we will be using a water catchment system to provide our water supply from rainwater, there will be a large 30,000 gallon water tank down the hillside in front of the living room. The circular top of this tank will serve as a patio which will be connected to the living room via two stairways.

To complement this, Robert and Bobby created a small hill “extension” or berm that projects out from the other side of the house in front of the East master bedroom suite. Between this and the patio in front of the living room will be a recessed area in which will be placed several small terraces where people can sit and lounge.

It is an extraordinary experience to walk the site with Robert as he explains his vision. One of the unique aspects of this project is how that vision continues to emerge as we move forward. This has been the pattern during the three and a half years of planning, and it continues into the construction phase. At each stage where we encounter a challenge or a question on how to proceed, an answer emerges that strengthens and enhances the design.

Robert’s great talent is in capturing these ideas as they emerge, and then enabling each idea to become a reality. It is a process providing of what is necessary to let Hi’ilani grow into what it will be.

Last week we began the grading of our house site, driveway and parking area. So far, the site has been scraped down about a foot. It appears that it will have to come down another two feet to give us a good solid area large enough for the foundation. Some of the dirt is being used to fill in the parking area to make it flat. A berm was created on the hillside to catch large rocks that might roll down when dirt is pushed over the edge of the top of the hill. We are collecting rocks for landscaping. We are hoping to be able to save the big Eucalyptus tree. A couple other plants and trees were saved for transplanting elsewhere. The coffee tree area that was cleared in grading will be replanted later.

It appears that the house will be situated on an ancient pu’u, a cone created from ash and cinder from an extinct volcano. The rock there is quite different from rock in the surrounding areas. The hill had been flattened some already be a previous landowner.

We’ve been enjoying a flock of egrets that has frequented the site, waiting for the bulldozer to turn up new worms.

Sunday, May 24, on the day of the New Moon, we held a Groundbreaking ceremony on the site of the Hi`ilani House. The five of us who will be residing in the house – Sherry, Dave, Teri, me (Jim,) and my mother Irene – were there, of course, and we were joined by 12 close friends and neighbors. Robert, our architect and friend, was also there.

The weather was slightly overcast, and just before our ceremony we felt a few raindrops. Rain in Hawaii is considered a blessing, and we were grateful for this small blessing. (We were also content that it was not a larger blessing at that particular time.) We have been having quite a bit of haze in the area in recent days which has a tendency to obscure the horizon. Yesterday afternoon, however, the haze cleared just before the ceremony, and the ocean’s horizon was clear.

It was a beautiful, perfect day – the ocean stretching away to the North – the lush, green beauty of the land around us – the loving camaraderie of our friends and family. It was easy to feel the power of the `āina (the land) on which we have the privilege to live.

Dave started the ceremony by acknowledging those present and talking about the steps taken to arrive at this next phase of the process. We have very much enjoyed the journey so far.

Following Dave’s introduction, Lanakila, a young man who has grown up here on the Hāmakua Coast of the Big Island, gave a powerful blessing. In doing this project, it is very important to us that we do it in a way that acknowledges and honors the spirits of those who have lived on this land before us, as well as those who will follow us. We also honor the spirits of our own ancestors (and our descendents.) Lanakila’s blessing was a powerful evocation of this intention. He reminded us that the word ‘Hāmakua’ is a composition of the word ‘Hā,’ which means ‘breath,’ and ‘makua,’ or ‘parent.’ The breath and the spiritual power of the ancestors who have gone before us is very powerfully felt on this land, and this presence will guide us as we go forward.

Robert spoke briefly about some of the design aspects of the house, and noted that the hexagonal basis for the shape of the house has come from the fact that the critical natural elements at the site – the rising and setting sun, the ocean, the trade winds – intersect at 120 degree angles. The hexagon is a fundamentally strong structure often found in nature.

We timed the actual groundbreaking to occur at 4:20 PM. This time was selected as a time when the planets align in such a way that will enhance the coming efforts. Fred, who lives with us here on this land and is part of our Ohana, and who is known for his astrological insight, spoke a few words about the significance of the time.

And then, with Fred as our timekeeper, precisely at 4:20 PM HST we dug the first shovelfulls of dirt from the ground. This moment has been long in coming, but as I said earlier, it has been a wonderful journey so far. We anticipate the next phase will be equally fun and enlightening.

We continued to celebrate with our Ohana and our friends for several more hours. All felt a deep sense of connection with the land, and with each other.

It was a perfect day in every way: a fitting transition to the next phase of this of this project.

Finally – after three years in the planning stages – we have a building permit! What a process!

We decided at the beginning of this (back in 2005!) that we really wanted to remember to truly enjoy every step of this journey, and so far, we really have. It certainly helps that all of the people working with us on the project and wonderfully creative and fun to work with!

So what’s next?

Well we are now in the process of gathering bids and partners for the actual construction phase, and we hope to have that completed soon. Hopefully, we will have groundbreaking within the next month or so.

As we get into this phase, we really want to ramp up the information flow through this web site. One of our goals for the web site is to share our practical experience with others who may want to incorporate some of the elements of our design in other projects. We hope that this will serve to encourage and enable others to design and build carbon neutral projects.

As we encounter the inevitable challenges that arise during our construction, we will report on them and describe our responses and progress.

We will also be posting more pictures and video as well. Our goal is to be a useful resource based on our practical experiences.

It’s been an incredible ride so far, and promises to get even more interesting at a rapidly accelerating rate.

Aloha!

In our pursuit of Carbon Neutral Living, we are aiming for the highest possible standard of certification, a LEED Platinum rating. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program was developed by the U. S. Green Building Council to encourage maximum environmental responsibility and energy efficiency in the design, construction and equipping of commercial and residential buildings.

We launched our quest for LEED certification with a design charrette on March 3, 2008, involving the key people who will be responsible for the final outcome:

Mitchell Johnson, LEED Provider. Energy Management Solutions, LLC
Robert Mechielsen, architect. Studio RMA
William Kurtz and Eric Mondi, contractors. Waterhouse Construction
Peter Shackelford, solar energy consultant. Renewable Energy Services, Inc.
Ada Lamme , landscaping consultant. Mohala Pua Garden Center
Angie Bolman, Interior Designer. Bolman Design

Hours were spent pouring over plans and inspecting the site. Soil composition, grading issues, wind and rainfall patterns, solar angles, area vegetation etc. were examined. Engineering, structural, electrical, plumbing, water catchment and disposal factors were reviewed. Sequencing and oversight of construction procedures were devised to maximize efficiency and minimize environmental impact of the construction process itself.

Review and integration of hundreds of details revealed that the project is well conceived, and that, with all participants performing at the high levels of excellence to which they are committed, LEED certification at the Platinum level is achievable!

This blog will be a journal of the Hi’ilani eco house project, accompanying the more direct information on the accompanying site (www.HiilaniEcoHouse.com.) There is also an associated blog (www.hoolea.com) in which the future occupants of the house share some more details of our other activities, including the personal journey that led us to this project.

The house has been in an extended design phase since we met Robert Mechielsen, our architect and friend, in September, 2005. We met through a mutual friend, and at the time, we thought we were just starting to interview architects for the possibility of maybe someday building a house on this site. During the meeting, we came to know Robert as someone who was very much aligned with our commitment that whatever we do must be done with environmental and social sustainability as a foundation.

This meeting opened the door to an entire new range of possibilities.

We entered a design concept phase with Robert and Studio RMA. He came to visit the site in October 2005, and the Hi’ilani house began to take form, deeply influenced by the magic of the land on which it will be built.

The subsequent journey has been long as the design has evolved and the required engineering work has been carried out. This was not unexpected, and we decided from the start that this entire process was one to be fully enjoyed, celebrating each step of the journey.

This house will rely on the sun, the rain and the trade winds for its life breath. It will also be infused with the sincere gratefulness that we feel for the journey we are on.

We move forward on this project with the deepest of respect for the land, the people that came before us, and the people that will follow.

Thank You God …

Me Ke Aloha,

Jim