Street Presence

DSA's job site sign was enthusiastically presented by a young pedestrian on Chapel Street in front of the Lincoln Society project in New Haven. The Lincoln Society - DSA's client, is a senior (secret) society located near Yale University - is part of the larger Chapel-Howe Street development project which DSA has been involved in over the past two years. Who knows, maybe she'll be our client one day?
Enrique Rosado photo

HURRIPLAN Featured at AIA National Convention in Chicago

Dean Sakamoto, FAIA, LEED AP will be presenting HURRIPLAN: Resilient Building Design for Coastal Communities course at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) National Convention in Chicago on June 25, 2014. Sakamoto's firm Dean Sakamoto Architects specializes in resilient architectural design. Resilience is a new area of concern in the environmental design field as we face challenges due to global climate change and rapid urbanization.  

Developed by Sakamoto and a team of national subject matter experts with the NDPTC in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning at UH Mānoa’s College of Social Sciences, “HURRIPLAN: Resilient Building Design for Coastal Communities" will introduce participants to best practices for community planning and non-residential building design in hurricane-prone regions. Utilizing a hands-on approach, the workshop will also incorporate instructor-led discussions and a design exercise using a hurricane-prone school site in New York City.

Presenting the workshop with Sakamoto will be NDPTC instructors Illya Azaroff, AIA, LEED AP; Michael Lingerfelt, FAIA; and Dennis Hwang, JD, a land-use attorney and coastal geology expert. Sakamoto and Lingerfelt are members of the AIA National Disaster Assistance Committee which is hosting the event. 

See this link for the full release:

 http://www.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=6582

Urban Observation 

Children's Discovery Center surrounded by homeless camp

This is no scout camp in the foreground to the Hawai`i Children's Discovery Center in the Kaka`ako Makai district of Honolulu. It is a tent city in the public right-of-way which has plagued the area for several years now. It is ironic and heart-wrenching to see families - elders, children and working-age adults - living in this State-owned precinct where recently legislated City & County of Honolulu rules which do not allow street side dwelling should be enforced in what is touted as Honolulu's "urban village". This is an urban issue par excellance which needs to be addressed now. The Children's Discovery Center, an anchor of Kaka`ako Makai since 1998, has thus far, tolerated consequences of this situation. Action is needed now. 
Dean Sakamoto photo
See link to a recent news story on this issue:
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/breaking/20130718_State_and_City_officials_sweeping_Kakaako_homeless_sites.html?id=216051011