Architects Like WCC Library

Voting for the 2013 People’s Choice Award, regarding the best examples of recent Hawaii architectural projects (built or unbuilt), is under way now through Friday when online balloting will end.

Sponsored by the Honolulu chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the list of distinguished entrants includes the already-built Windward Community College’s Library Learning Commons. The winners of both the AIA members and people’s choice votes will be honored July 24 at the AIA Honolulu Design Awards Gala.

As the first green library in Hawaii, the new WCC centerpiece opened last summer and enjoys an abundance of nature daylight via its three-story atrium. Its furniture is made of recycled materials from the previously demolished building. In keeping with the Spanish mission-revival architecture of the Kaneohe campus, it is regarded as “a collaborative and efficient learning environment” with a media center, classrooms, common areas and a coffee shop all under one roof.

For more detailed project descriptions and photos, and to vote in the seventh annual competition, visit aiahonolulu.org.