HONOLULU, HAWAII – FEBRUARY 23, 2024 – Hale Kalele was selected as a finalist by the American Society of Civil Engineers for its Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement (OCEA) Award. A tradition since 1960, the OCEA Awards honor projects worldwide that are the greatest examples of civil engineers’ work from the past year, displaying advances in the profession and their benefits to society. Of the 11 nominated projects, Hale Kalele is the only building project.
Located at the corner of Pi‘ikoi and Elm Streets in the heart of Honolulu, Hale Kalele was developed by the Kobayashi Group, Hawaii State Judiciary, and Hawaii Housing Finance and Development Corporation to transform an underutilized state-owned parcel into affordable workforce housing while maintaining and modernizing the onsite State Juvenile Center. The affordable housing tower is being recognized for several factors including its unique public-private partnership and its focus on sustainability that included a two-pronged approach to reducing the project’s carbon footprint: structural analysis with attention to optimizing material use and incorporating CarbonCure technology that traps carbon dioxide and injects it into the concrete mix, sequestering carbon while reducing the cement content of the concrete.
“BASE has designed many of Hawaii’s most iconic structures but finds working on affordable housing the most rewarding and important work,” said Steve Baldridge, President of Baldridge & Associates Structural Engineering. “This project was even more satisfying with its focus on sustainability, true teamwork and the delivery of a public project on time and under budget.”
“We are honored to receive this global recognition for Hale Kalele, a project that we are incredibly proud of for its innovative structural design and implementation as the first structure in Hawaii to utilize CarbonCure technology to reduce the carbon footprint of the building,” said Alana Kobayashi Pakkala, Manager & Executive Vice President of Kobayashi Group LLC. “Hale Kalele not only delivers much-needed homes to our hard-working kama‘aina residents living at the 30 to 60 percent area median income, it also established and implemented energy savings and carbon reduction goals with energy star appliances, 60% to NET zero photovoltaic system, centralized solar hot water system, electric vehicle charging and car share. We are thrilled to provide more than 200 homes with many family-friendly amenities in a vibrant community and contribute to a brighter, more sustainable future for our island.”
Hale Kalele’s design was a collaborative effort led by architect Design Partners Incorporated and built by general contractor Albert C. Kobayashi, Inc.
Project finalists were chosen by the OCEA jury and the grand award winner will be announced at an awards gala in Tampa, FL on October 8.
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