Pearl Harbor is one of the most popular attractions in Hawaii, drawing more than one million people every year to see the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument. Welcoming these visitors is an attractive new visitor center opened in 2010, featuring impressive historical displays, expanded exhibits and facilities, and panoramic views across Pearl Harbor to Ford Island and the USS Arizona Memorial. What most visitors may not realize is that they are also visiting a showcase green building facility.
The Pearl Harbor Visitor Center incorporates several green features into its design, which received “gold” LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. These include building structures that enhance natural ventilation and which make use of the temperate trade winds that flow across Hawaii to cool the buildings. Almost all of the visitor center structures, from the museum displays and bookstore to the ticket booth, are open and have large roofs that provide shade. Additionally, the buildings are laid out in a way intended to maximize the flow of air between them. Although the original museum at the site also featured an open-air exhibit gallery, the National Park Service has said that the building’s design did not provide for the appropriate climate control needed to display many historical artifacts that can now be shown there.
Other green features of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center include use of technologies and designs intended to conserve water, such as low-flow toilets and landscaping with limited need for water. The National Park Service estimates that these water conversation measures save 800,000 gallons of water annually. Natural daylight is used for lighting as much as possible, and where electric lights are needed they are automatically triggered or can be adjusted to more efficient levels. One-quarter of the visitor center’s energy needs are powered by on-site photovoltaic cells. An interpretive sign within the visitor center (image below) describes the buildings’ design as having been influenced by the environment of a monkeypod tree. Some of these design elements include curved roofs intended to mimic the monkeypod tree’s canopy, and buildings arranged and designed to maximize ventilation like how the tree provides cooling effects below its branches.
Guide to Green Features of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center
Many of these building features are possible because of Hawaii’s tropical climate, where sunny weather and balmy temperatures year-round make heating and air conditioning unnecessary. However, the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center’s creative designs, which maximize the characteristics of and draw inspiration from the local environment, offer a compelling example for other green building projects to work with, rather than fight against, their environment. They also offer another example of how green design can be good design. The visitor center is an inviting facility on its own merits. It draws attention to the historic attractions it presents, rather than itself; one needs to be on the lookout to identify the green components there .
National parks and historic monuments like Pearl Harbor serve a vital educational role, drawing millions of visitors every year. The placement and use of energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies at these high-visibility sites is valuable not only for reducing costs and conserving these national treasures, but also for educating visitors and demonstrating their applicability. Though green design is not the main attraction, visitors may walk away with new knowledge, appreciation, and ideas for utilizing them in their own communities.
Images by Author
