Building Signage

Design Components

Botanical

Featured on each building signs, a botanical cut-out has been carefully designed to highlight vegetation found in and around Mānoa Valley. These botanicals were chosen for its meaning to and relationship with Kanaka ʻŌiwi, as many of these plants are also recognized as kinolau, one of the many embodiments of akua (elemental forces).

KALO

Kalo is central to Hawaiian culture, serving as both the staple food source as well as a social, spiritual, and mythological focal point. Carefully irrigated loʻi once covered the valley floor of Mānoa, communally tended by kanaka mahiʻai. For many Kanaka ʻŌiwi, kalo is a reminder of their familial relationship with ʻāina because of the moʻolelo of Hāloanaka.

This moʻolelo tells of the son of the akua Wākea and Hoʻohōkūkalani. He was born prematurely in the shape of a bulb and, under duress, the couple sought out their kūpuna (ancestors) for advice. They told them to bury the child in the soil, where Hoʻohōkūkulani spent many days grieving. Her tears fell to the grave, watering this ʻāina until a leaf bloomed in its place. With this new incarnation of life, they named him Hāloanaka, meaning the long, quivering breath after the shaking, heart-shaped leaves of the kalo. Wākea and Hoʻohokukulani would then give birth to the first aliʻi of humankind, naming him Hāloa after his elder brother. 

As long as he, and his descendants—the Hawaiian people—continued to care for kalo, they would in turn be fed and nourished by their elder brother. As the literal elder brother of mankind, kalo has traditionally been regarded with great care and respect. The root of the word ʻohana comes from the term for the kalo plantʻs roots or buds—ʻoha—making kalo an important symbol for family. 

The designers’ intention with the kalo design has been to focus on the importance of ‘oha and continuing to connect across generations. ‘Ohana—and kalo—become about cultivating community. 

KUKUI

Kukui trees are found across the islands and all around Mānoa Valley along the slopes of the Ko‘olau mountain range. The kukui bark, flowers, and nuts have been long valued for their uses as medicine and dyes for cloth and tattooing, among other applications. The kukui nut is most famously used as lei and fuel to burn candlelight. Maybe because of this, the tree is also known as the “Candlenut tree,” where the flames can be seen as a “beacon” or symbol of enlightenment, knowledge, and leadership. These values are embodied by University in the seal, which prominently displays the word mālamalama, meaning “light of knowledge.” 

The kukui design, thus, seeks to emphasize connections between and enlightenment of teachers, students, and visitors to the campus.

KĪ

Kī, or locally called “tī leaf,” are commonly found across the valley and the Hawaiʻi islands at large. While known for its many uses, it is widely known to be used in maile-style lei and as the layer of protection around the luʻau leaves of lau lau. In tradition, the kī was used to protect and purify people and places. For example, kahuna would also use the leaves in ceremony to ward off evil spirits. While kāhili (ceremonial standard) were typically composed of feathers, older forms used the stalk and leaves of kī. Kāhili signified the presence of the aliʻi, radiating a sense of dignity, regality, and leadership. Lāʻī, a single kī leaf, also becomes a wordplay on laʻi, the word for calm, quiet, peace, and tranquility. 

The designers have sought to communicate  these varieties of meaning in their design, communicating both the protection and leadership of kī as well as its peace. 

KOU

Kou are known for their beautiful wood grain, which made it highly prized to make ʻumeke. As a metaphor, Kanaka ʻŌiwi saw the ʻumeke as representing one’s mind and body–to fill one’s ʻumeke can be seen as being filled with knowledge. Because of this layered meaning, the kou design seeks to encourage the consumption and cultivation of knowledge. 

ʻŌHIʻA

The ʻōhiʻa lehua is endemic to the Hawaiʻi islands, often seen blooming in lava fields or higher elevations of mountains. Often the flowers are used for lei, while the wood is traditionally used as kapa beaters, poi boards, and weapons. 

It is famously known to never separate the lehua (flower) from the ʻōhiʻa tree, as told by the moʻolelo of ʻŌhiʻa and Lehua. In the story, the two are mortal lovers who make a promise to never leave the other. Their love is disrupted by Pele–the akua (elemental force) whose kuleana is to hulihia (overturn) lands with her lava–as she wants ʻŌhiʻa for herself. ʻŌhiʻa can’t betray his love for Lehua, unable to forget their promise to always be together. Pele, often described as jealous, responds with anger as she turns him into a twisted, gray tree. When Lehua hears, we are told her tears never stopped flowing. Other akua took pity on her and turned her into the lehua, so that they can keep their promise. Because of this moʻolelo, visitors to any ʻōhiʻa lehua forest are warned to never pick the flower, as the clouds will cry from their separation. 

Maybe it is this relationship that kūpuna and other practitioners of kilo have noticed how the ʻōhiʻa lehua attracts clouds and thus rains–meaning these trees play an important role in our ahupuaʻa system. Moreover, Mary Kawena Pukui shares the ʻōlelo noʻeau, he kumu lehua muimuia i ka mana, or “a lehua tree covered with birds.” This saying has an underlying meaning often used to refer to “an attractive person” since the ʻōhiʻa lehua “in bloom [also] attracts birds as an attractive person draws the attention of others” (#713). With this layered meaning of the ʻōhia, the designers hoped to attract viewers to the project, garnering a greater understanding of wayfinding and Kanaka ʻŌiwi culture.  

Watermark

The watermark pattern found on every building sign was inspired by traditional kapa practices. Kapa is crafted by beating together many layers of inner bark until they are “bonded” together. As with the beating of these layers, the practice can metaphorically represent the act of bind and strengthening relationships. The watermark carries this meaning acting as a unifying motif across campus to reminds us of our community. The pattern is featured on Building Signs, the ʻIli Markers, and other installations, always in representation of the interconnectedness between our community and the ʻāina.

Medallion

Each building sign is paired with a bronze medallion set into the sidewalk. These medallions incorporate elements of the star compass designed by Nainoa Thompson for ocean navigation and Kanaka ʻŌiwi alignment practices, with the puʻu (pointer) directing viewers toward a wahi pana, or significant location, around the Waikīkī ahupuaʻa. This body alignment practice is also informed by Kanaka ʻŌiwi traditions performed at heiau (places of worship) where one might use rock placements to align oneself to celestial bodies or events.