PACE Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship | Shidler College of Business | AHL
With an overreliance on one industry, Hawai’i is making serious inroads into diversifying its economy – and innovation is key. A shining light is Residences for Innovative Student Entrepreneurs (RISE) for the Pacific Asian Center for Entrepreneurship (PACE) at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. The PACE at Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center was developed to support this program with a creative and energetic environment.
This live-learn-work community strives to nurture a resilient workforce that creates value through venture creation or within established organizations by unleashing the entrepreneurial potential of its students.
Inspired by this mission, AHL provided interior design services for The PACE at Walter Dods, Jr. RISE Center as part of its 1% Pro Bono program. AHL’s 1% ProBono program is part of the national 1% program of Public Architecture which connects nonprofits with architecture and design firms willing to give their time pro bono.
The interior design team drew upon UH’s reputation for research excellence in earth, ocean, space, and agriculture. The islands spark curiosity, nurture innovation, and teach us about the wonders of nature. Hawai’i's natural landscape and surrounding ocean symbolize the cycle of nurture and growth.
Symbolizing PACE and its vitality, the collaborative meeting rooms are layered with kupukupu ferns and saturated with color. The native kupukupu fern is one of the first plants to appear in otherwise barren lava beds. Kupu in Hawaiian means “to sprout”, and hula halau has used this fern in their wrist, ankle, and head lei with the hope that knowledge will take root and sprout within the dancer. For PACE, the kupukupu conveys growth, resiliency, strength, and determination. (excerpt from ahl.design)
Special mahalo to Kaelyn Okuhata of @artbysachiko
