Windward to celebrate new campus jewel

By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer

KANE'OHE — Tomorrow, Windward Community College will unveil its latest state-of-the-art facility, part of a decade-long, $50 million improvement program that has transformed the old office buildings and one-time psychiatric wards into a campus becoming known as much for its innovation as its beauty.

Tom Holowach, theater manager at the new arts and humanities building at Windward Community College, goes over a punch list of things to do to get ready for the opening of the 300-seat, state-of-the-art theater. Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser

The center features a unique 300-seat performance theater equipped with surround sound, a special lighting system, a sprung floor for dance performances and three versatile stage and seating configurations. The building has ceramics, photography and art studios, a computer lab, drama and dance spaces, an art gallery, practice rooms for music and choir and numerous classrooms. It is air conditioned and wired with fiber-optic cable.

The college, set at the foot of the Ko'olau Range and shaded by spreading banyan trees, has one of the most striking campuses in the University of Hawai'i system, but for decades it operated out of old, dilapidated — although architecturally beautiful — buildings that once belonged to the Hawai'i State Hospital.

Now four new buildings, one renovated building and numerous upgrades have made the stodgy campus into a jewel, said Bonnie Beatson, a Windward college student. A campus library is in the planning stages and expects to receive financing.

"I feel like I'm in a private college," said Beatson, 46. "It's a gorgeous location. I get all these new facilities to work in and I'm still only paying $43 a credit. It's unbelievable that this is available on the Windward side."

The arts center is part of a 1989 master plan that called for 11 new and renovated buildings on the campus. Work got under way in 1991 with the renovation of the historic Hale Kuhina building and construction of a science complex at a cost of $12.6 million. When it was completed in 1997, the science complex, dubbed Hale 'Imiloa, was the first new building on campus since the college opened in 1972.

In 2000, the campus opened the first planetarium/imaginarium of its kind in the state, at a cost of $4 million. And this year a $13.8 million campus center, with the college's first cafeteria, will open.

Each building, with its state-of-the art equipment and architectural details, lends credence to the state's professed commitment to education, said Angela Meixell, WCC provost.

"It's the way they built state buildings 100 years ago when they built them with pride and to last 100 years," she said.

Construction flaws have delayed the opening of the arts center, but that is being worked out. Instructors who are using the center are happy, in part because many of them were involved in designing the building.

Paul Nash, ceramics instructor, said he got everything he asked for, including outdoor kiln and raku facilities. The equipment throughout the building will entice the community to join classes and facilitate advanced courses, Nash said.

At the heart of the building is the new 300-seat performance theater. It's unlike any in Hawai'i, said head architect Vernon Inoshita.

"There are no bad seats, even if you sit on the far side at the top," Inoshita said.

Theater manager Tom Holowach has plans for Shakespeare productions, Hawai'i International Film Festival showings, concerts and more.

Acoustics are perfect for "unplugged" concerts, Holowach said, adding that he has equipment to turn the stage into a bandshell and most of what is needed to record a concert. The lights are mounted on a grid that can be walked on.

Holowach, who plans to run the theater as a business and will rent it out, will need to raise money for furnishings and operating costs.

Nevertheless, the school isn't complaining and plans to share its facilities with Windward residents, said Meixell, who inherited the new buildings when she took over two years ago after Pete Dyer got all of the projects started during his 20 years as campus provost.

"We're looking for more and more opportunities to bring the Windward community on campus," Meixell said. "We see that as a way of bringing in future students."