THE COMPARTMENTALIZED LAYOUT of this island home left much to be desired. What the owners craved was a more fluid, open space, flooded with natural light. The problem was, they also wanted display niches for the art pieces they’d procured in their travels. And display niches required walls.
Studio Becker resolved this request with cut-outs in partition walls that extend the sight lines deeper into the house. Each cut-through window is sized to match a specific sculptural piece in the owners’ collection—a feat that required some structural choreography. In load-bearing walls, it meant working around studs hidden in the wall cavity.
Another challenge was achieving adequate kitchen storage without compromising views of the Ko’olau Mountain Ridge. For purposes of window preservation, the architects suspended a custom glass cabinet above the center peninsula. The cabinet’s cool profile is complemented by warm bamboo flooring and iroko wood countertops.
Entrant/Architect: Studio Becker, Honolulu; Builder: KAN Builders, Kailua, Hawaii; Interior designer: TCB Island Interiors, Honolulu
2006 WATERMARK AWARD JUDGES Janis Magnuson Jay, Kitchen Classics by Custom Crafters, Annandale, Va. Chris Morrison, Cunningham + Quill Architects, Washington Jim Gibson, Gibson Builders, Washington Wayne Speight, Speight Studio Architects, Annapolis, Md.
