Student Work
Title
Papahānaumokuākea Center
Project Description
Beauty, as Elaine Scarry describes, has a transformative power that forces people to take notice. It asserts attention, demanding a hyper focus that denies the distinction between foreground and background. The Nā Pali Coast, the site of a research center for the Papahānaumokuākea marine national monument, asserts itself as a beautiful object until it becomes familiar and its beauty mundane. A traveling void carves into the mountain as a path for the foot, as continuity for the eye, and as a link between three cascading masses, generating momentum for an infinite sequence that maintains focus and inhibits familiarity. Its back wall is lined with the colors of Papahanaumokuakea to provide access to an unattainable site and to deny access to the Napali Coast without its national marine counterpart. As the path weaves through the mountain and inside each building, the occupant is rendered in a constant state of awareness.