Ka Punahou (the new spring) flows into pools inside Robert Shipman Thurston, Jr. Memorial Chapel, designed by Vladimir Ossipoff in 1967 in the center of the campus.

Punahou School Design Guidelines

Punahou School was established in 1841 to provide education for the children of Congregational missionaries, on land given by Governor Boki and his wife Liliha to the Reverend and Mrs. Hiram Bingham. Over the intervening years many distinctive buildings, in styles ranging from Mission-era to contemporary, have been added to the campus, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

The guidelines, prepared by PBR Hawaii and Mason Architects, ensure that the campus remains cohesive, visually unified, and respectful of the school's historic traditions yet fulfills the functional academic requirements of the various levels of student development. The campus was divided into nine "neighborhoods" and specific guidelines were developed for each to reinforce its identity and traditions yet retain its consistency within the larger community.

Mason Architects developed the architectural guidelines for the campus and for each neighborhood, analyzing its architectural character, significant architectural features and materials, and building scale and massing. Emphasizing that new buildings should be compatible with historic buildings but should express the aesthetic and intellectual ideas of their own time, guidelines were drawn for such elements as their form, orientation, height, materials, and accessibility.

In subsequent projects, MAI prepared Architectural Inventory Surveys for Wilcox Hall and Mary Persis Winne Classroom Units to assess the impact of proposed changes. MAI worked with Cultural Surveys Hawaii on the creation of an Archaeological Memorandum of Understanding regarding development in the oldest sections of the school and evaluated the historical integrity and significance of the remaining portions of the Ka'ahumanu Wall at the perimeter of the campus.

Photos: MAI