The Howard Hughes Corporation® delivers newest addition to acclaimed Honolulu community offering enhanced urban island lifestyle with environmentally conscious design
HONOLULU, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Howard Hughes Corporation ® (NYSE: HHC) today announced the opening of the Kōʻula ® tower at Ward Village®, the sixth residential project to open at the acclaimed 60-acre master planned community located in the heart of Honolulu, just blocks from the Pacific Ocean. Designed by Studio Gang—the renowned architecture firm led by Jeanne Gang, who TIME Magazine named one of the world's most influential people—Kōʻula exemplifies innovative architectural design focused on community connectivity and ecological awareness. Embracing the unique qualities of Hawaiʻi's climate, vegetation, and sense of community that define Ward Village, Kōʻula seamlessly blends indoor and outdoor spaces that allow residents to forge new connections to nature and each other.
"With today's opening of Kōʻula, the latest residential tower to be completed at Ward Village, we are welcoming new residents into our ʻohana at Ward Village, a LEED-ND Platinum-certified master planned community which continues to demonstrate record-breaking sales momentum as it offers an outstanding modern island lifestyle that you can't find anywhere else," said David R. O'Reilly, Chief Executive Officer of The Howard Hughes Corporation. As of September 14, 2022, Kōʻula is now 96.6% pre-sold with closings expected to commence on September 14, 2022.
The building exemplifies Studio Gang's process of drawing insight from ecological systems to create striking places that create community and that connect with the surrounding environment. The name Kōʻula, which translates to "red sugar cane," is an homage to the native plant whose twisting appearance informed Studio Gang's design for the 41-story tower. To create the distinctive, wave-like appearance of the building's façade, Studio Gang employed an innovative structural system composed of stacked "wallumns"—a hybrid element that serves as both wall and column, offering column-free interiors with flexible layouts that allow each residence to angle toward the coastline and capture idyllic views of the Pacific Ocean, the city, and the Koʻolau Range. The wallumns also provide support and self-shading for each residence's private lānai to keep temperatures comfortable and improve environmental performance.
Kōʻula offers 565 residential homes—a variety of studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments—with the floor plans for each residence designed to bring the outdoors in and extend each unit's livable space. The building includes an array of social areas, making up more than one acre of amenity space. An expansive open-air lobby creates a seamless connection to the surrounding neighborhood and an inviting entrance from the outdoors. One-of-a-kind leisure and fitness spaces on the building's eighth level continue the relaxed, calming atmosphere for everyday living. Kōʻula is the latest demonstration of Ward Village's vision of a natural sanctuary where the community can come together to connect with each other and celebrate the culture and the beauty of the island of Oahu. A new open space surrounding the tower, Victoria Ward Park, reinforces this sense of community and connectivity by serving as a new central gathering space.
"We designed Kōʻula to connect residents with Honolulu's spectacular natural ecology," said Studio Gang Founding Partner Jeanne Gang. "The living spaces subtly peel off from the building's core towards the coastline to capture mauka-to-makai views, and each home extends outdoors onto spacious lānai that draw fresh air and natural light inside year-round. We also designed a series of social spaces and strong links to the adjacent park to help residents meet, come together, and feel part of the larger Ward Village community. I'm excited to see how residents will make these spaces their own."
Interiors of the building are designed by Yabu Pushelberg in collaboration with Studio Gang. Yabu Pushelberg—an Interior Design Hall of Fame inductee named among the world's most influential design studios—rarely takes on residential projects but was motivated to contribute to the future of Hawaiʻi living. Guided by the desire to combine the warmth and openness of Hawaiʻi with its natural surroundings, the studio designed interiors which seamlessly follow the rhythm of the architecture and communicate their signature "high-humble," qualitative approach to modern island living.
Outside Kōʻula, the interior spaces flow directly across to Victoria Ward Park, Ward Village's newest gathering place devoted to health, wellness, and community connectivity. The park's 3.5 acres of green space is surrounded by extensively landscaped pedestrian walkways and is designed to enhance the community programming and retail activations that characterize Ward Village—including the many restaurants, cafes, farmers' markets, and shops—and make Victoria Ward Park a new centerpiece of life at Ward Village. The enhancement of open green space throughout Ward Village is a critical element of the award-winning community's master plan.
"Our vision for Ward Village has been to create a community distinguished by its design, walkability, unique offerings, and distinct sense of place—fostering deep and meaningful connections between the natural environment and the people of the community. Kōʻula is a tangible expression of this philosophy, designed to capture the essence of what makes Honolulu so special within a vibrant urban island setting," said Jay Cross, President of The Howard Hughes Corporation. "Intertwining all categories of housing, commercial, and retail development throughout Ward Village gives residents the exceptional experience of living in a uniquely Hawaiian, expertly planned community."
About Ward Village®
Ward Village is a 60-acre master planned community by The Howard Hughes Corporation® in the heart of Honolulu, located between downtown and Waikīkī. Honoring the distinct history of its land, Ward Village is at the forefront of sustainable community development—integrating striking architecture, culture and arts, and public open space. At full build-out, the community will include approximately one million square feet of unique retail and thousands of homes, in what Architectural Digest named "Best Planned Community in the United States." Responding to the strong demand for new housing in urban Honolulu, Ward Village continues to demonstrate an increasingly exceptional pace of sales at its mixed-use residential towers—Waiea®, Anaha®, Aeʻo®, Ke Kilohana®, ʻAʻaliʻi® and Kōʻula®—that are transforming the popular shopping and dining district into a thriving urban neighborhood that offers expansive open space, including its newest outdoor gathering place, Victoria Ward Park, and views of the surrounding ocean and mountains. New residential buildings in development or under construction include Victoria Place®, Ulana Ward Village, and The Park Ward Village, which has become the fastest-selling market tower in the history of Ward Village since launching public sales in July 2021. As a LEED-ND Platinum-certified master planned community, Ward Village continues to demonstrate its commitment to responsible, mixed-use development by investing in public benefits and amenities for Honolulu's urban community.
About Studio Gang
Studio Gang is an international architecture and urban design practice founded and led by Jeanne Gang. Driven by an ethos of actionable idealism, the studio uses a research-based design process to create striking places that build stronger relationships between people, their communities and the natural environment. The studio's award-winning work ranges from community centers and cultural institutions such as Writers Theatre to tall buildings like Aqua Tower and Solar Carve that foster community. Upcoming projects include an expansion to the American Museum of Natural History; a new United States Embassy in Brazil; a unified campus for California College of the Arts and the Global Terminal at OʻHare International Airport. Regularly named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Architecture Companies, Studio Gang is headquartered in Chicago with offices in New York, San Francisco and Paris.
About The Howard Hughes Corporation®
The Howard Hughes Corporation owns, manages and develops commercial, residential and mixed-use real estate throughout the U.S. Its award-winning assets include the country's preeminent portfolio of master planned cities and communities, as well as operating properties and development opportunities including: the Seaport in New York City; Downtown Columbia®, Maryland; The Woodlands®, The Woodlands Hills®, and Bridgeland® in the Greater Houston, Texas area; Summerlin® in Las Vegas, Nevada; Ward Village® in Honolulu, Hawaiʻi; and Douglas Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona. The Howard Hughes Corporationʻs portfolio is strategically positioned to meet and accelerate development based on market demand, resulting in one of the strongest real estate platforms in the country. Dedicated to innovative placemaking, the company is recognized for its ongoing commitment to design excellence and to the cultural life of its communities. The Howard Hughes Corporation is traded on the New York Stock Exchange as HHC. For additional information visit www.howardhughes.com.
Media Contact
The Howard Hughes Corporation
Cristina Carlson, 646-822-6910
Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Communications
cristina.carlson@howardhughes.com
Investor Relations Contact
The Howard Hughes Corporation
Eric Holcomb, 281-475-2144
Senior Vice President, Investor Relations
eric.holcomb@howardhughes.com
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SOURCE The Howard Hughes Corporation