A Residential Design Award of Excellence is given for the restoration of the Pālehua Cabin and Guest Cottage, designed between 1949-60 by Vladimir Ossipoff. Although Ossipoff is one of the leading architects of midcentury Hawai‘i, this site was relatively unknown and inaccessible to the public. Ossipoff spent nearly two decades of his life in Japan and was known for combining Japanese spatial typologies and craft with modernist principles and technologies. These ideas are made explicit at Pālehua, with typical Japanese elements found throughout the cabin. After the Ossipoffs ended their lease in the 1970s, the cabins were occupied by various tenants, enduring small alterations and poor maintenance. In 2009, the Gill family and the Edmund C. Olson Trust purchased the land to restore the forest and cabins. Faced with a miniscule budget and a remote site, the restoration was pragmatic yet highly sensitive to the original design, retaining or refinishing elements wherever possible, harvesting replacement timbers from invasive eucalyptus trees and strawberry guava, and sourcing new furnishings locally. No major changes were made to the cabins’ plan or program, and several elements were removed to restore the property to its period of significance. Set amongst stunning views of the surrounding Wai‘anae Mountains, this years-long restoration was truly a community undertaking and is now accessible to the public as a venue and overnight rental, with proceeds supporting ongoing forest restoration work and environmental education.

Gary Gill & Liza Ryan Gill

Gary Gill (Owner & Exterior Design and Renovation Manager); Liza Ryan Gill (Owner & Interior Design Manager); Mark Enomoto (Carpentry); Mark Chai (Lighting Fabrication); Wayne Goo/Jason Selley, Workshop, HI (Lighting Fabrication Design), Maka'iwa Maintenance and Landscaping (Construction)