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WhiteSpace Architects has been selected to design the new Hamakua-Kohala Health Rural Health, Wellness and Teaching Center, it was announced Tuesday.
The $15 million, 24,000-square-foot facility will be located on the five-acre site of the former Kohala Club Hotel, between Hawi and Kapaau on Hawaii Island.
According to a May 2 announcement from WhiteSpace Architects and Hamakua-Kohala Health, the facility will offer primary and preventative care to all age groups and serve as a "comprehensive home to a patient's primary-care practitioner and medical specialists, family dentist, in-house pharmacy and even care coordinators for added support."
Additionally, pediatric and behavioral health wings will provide specialized services, the announcement noted, adding that the facility also will incorporate a traditional cultural healing center that will offer lomi lomi, hooponopono and laau lapaau, and other culturally appropriate practices for health.
In addition to providing health care in North Hawaii, the new facility also will serve as a teaching and educational facility for doctors, nurses, medical assistants, dentists and pharmacists, offering residency opportunities for medical students, according to the announcement.
"Hands-on health care research opportunities in [a] rural setting are rare; the new center will allow students the chance to practice and study rural health care and indigenous health," the announcement noted.
According to the announcement, Hamakua-Kohala Health's patient community has doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 in recent years.
“Healthcare resources in North Hawaii have been stretched thin for too long, and the new center will help provide greater access to care for people across the entire region,” Irene Carpenter, CEO of Hamakua-Kohala Health, said in a statement. “In addition, we greatly look forward to training the next generation of medical providers, dentists and pharmacists from this very community as we ‘grow our own’ who understand the special needs of North Hawaii.”
According to the announcement, Laurel Swan, who lives in North Kohala and heads the Waimea branch of WhiteSpace Architects, serves as project architect. Other members of the WhiteSpace Architects’ project team include Ana Ruiz, project architect; and Stacey Villarino and Rebecca “Becky” Ziebelman, both architectural designers.
According to the announcement, Hamakua-Kohala Health, a community-based health center founded in 1966, currently operates out of a small leased structure near the Kohala Hospital in Kapaau, where it provides primary, dental and behavioral health services.
The WhiteSpace design for the center will feature a "classic Hawaiiana, plantation-era aesthetic to match the rural character of the region," the announcement noted. "To ensure that the center fits with the community scale, it is integrated into the landscape in design and color palette."
The two-story design also includes interior courtyards, outdoor gathering spaces, covered lanai and a covered porte cochere that leads to a central circulation area that will flow to other wings, according to the announcement. A parking lot meanders through the property to allow circular flow.
Two of three existing Kohala Club Hotel buildings will be demolished, after they were determined to be in "such poor condition that restoration would be impractical," the announcement noted. The remaining two-story building will likely be converted into student housing in a future phase.
In a future phase of the project, a separate 6,000-square-foot residential building will be constructed, the announcement read, also noting that adding on-site housing "will greatly benefit the research/training facility by providing students with affordable places to stay."
“As with all of our work, the new design responds to what Hamakua-Kohala Health needs now, yet also looks ahead to the future,” Swan said in a statement. “We believe that we have designed a health center that will work successfully in 2025, as well as for the next century to accommodate the changing needs of this unique community.”
WhiteSpace is aiming for a mid-2024 groundbreaking.