Hawaii Overview
In the opening session, Glenn Mason and Graham Hart will provide an introduction to Hawaii’s architecture, with an emphasis on the impetus to develop an architecture appropriate to the Islands. Overviews will be provided on Hawaii’s architectural tradition, and the strong mid-century presence of modernism. You must be registered for the Docomomo US Symposium in order to attend this session.
Glenn E. Mason, FAIA
Mr. Mason has 40 years of architecture experience, in both preservation of historic structures and in design of new structures. His experience with historic architecture is widely acknowledged and he has received several awards for his projects in restoration and renovation. Mr. Mason has prepared Historic Structures Reports for sites in Hawaii and Guam, and been responsible for the condition analysis and historic research on dozens of sites. He meets the Secretary of the Interior’s Professional Qualifications standards for Historical Architect. He was a principal in Spencer Mason Architects from 1984 through 1997 and founded Mason Architects in 1998.
Graham Hart
Graham Hart is an architect in Hawai‘i, currently employed at the University of Hawai‘i School of Architecture as a Lecturer, and Kokomo Studio, a practice he founded in 2018 with his business partner. Graham also currently serves as Docomomo US Hawai‘i Chapter President and the 2019 National Docomomo Symposium co-chair. Graham graduated from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in 2015 with his Doctorate of Architecture. His dissertation was entitled Tropical Modern Residential Architecture: Elements, Vocabulary and Language, where he cataloged and researched modernism from around the tropics in over 300 pages of text and diagrams. His professional work varies from restaurant and retail design, to single and multi-family residential. His personal and academic research work focuses on mid-century architecture in Hawai‘i and the tropics, where Graham has documented forgotten modern gems and lead restoration and education efforts for buildings of this period. His extracurricular endeavors range from electric motorcycles to film production, in which his short film, Mixed Plate Hawai‘i, won national acclaim with screenings nation wide. Graham has studied in Kobe, Japan, and travels regularly documenting mid-century architecture from around the world. Currently, between working his three jobs and running two nonprofit organizations, Graham is working on renovating his 1958 open-air apartment in Waikīkī.