Posted on: Friday, June 28, 2002

Waikiki to get its very own 'volcano' in October

By Wade Kilohana Shirkey
Advertiser Staff Writer

When finished in October, it will be a new Waikiki landmark of subtle superlatives — a shimmering, 15-story volcano light show playing on the exterior wall of a Waikiki high-rise. It will be surrounded by a phalanx of 13 tiki torches, each nearly three stories high, standing sentinel.

The $30 million renovation of the new Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel will also place "the Volcano" in thousands of photographs of another eruptive marvel: Diamond Head.

"We have what we call 'the enviable position' of being right in the center of Waikiki Beach," said Matthew Gilbertson of Architects Hawai'i, the project's architect. As the last hotel where Kalakaua Avenue turns toward Diamond Head, the Aston Waikiki Beach is "in almost every picture of Diamond Head taken".

"We're always the left-hand frame," joked hotel general manager Steve Townsend.

Gilbertson sees the hotel's "hip Hawaiian" renovation as part of a historic continuum: "In the '60s, everything 12 stories high and below came down (in Waikiki)" and high-rises went up.

"In the '80s, everything was renovated in marble and glass," he said. In the '90s, it was sandstone pavers, water features and impatiens.

"We recognized the opportunity to take the hotel back to the (romantic) Waikiki of early 20th century," Gilbertson said — back to the nostalgic era of lazy luxury liners, Queen's Surf barefoot patrons and Don the Beachcomber's umbrella drinks — a "place of aloha." And when "tourism didn't take itself so seriously," Townsend said.

"We wanted to (return) to the personal, intimate experience of the '40s and '50s, when Waikiki was the right scale and atmosphere to support that feeling," said Gilbertson. Colorful and playful.

Almost as if lucky happenstance, the city's recent beachside, "Victorian era" renovations across the street rendered the timing for the hotel renovation propitious, Gilbertson said. That graceful return of both hotel and beach to the glories of a Waikiki past seemed to go hand in hand.

It gave designers a perfect opportunity "to return the hotel to the beach — and the beach to the hotel," Gilbertson said, "A marriage of of the two."

"The first thing we had to do was to open it up to the public," Townsend said of redesigning the massive hotel.

Demolition of much of the makai-'ewa corner of the hotel worked toward eliminating what had been an almost claustrophobic entrance to the hotel.

"We gave back the corner to the public, not (design-wise or economically) an easy thing to do," Townsend said.

"This was an introverted hotel," said Townsend, of the former Waikiki Holiday Inn and Hawaiian Waikiki Beach Hotel.

Greeting visitors will be a streetside "respite of lush landscaping, a little sidewalk cafe (Wolfgang Puck Express) and inviting arcade. Above, punctuated by a signature bright red, modernistic, "square 'torii' gate" will be the Tiki Grill and Bar, under the cone of the towering volcano above.An aversion to Las Vegas glitz and reverence for Hawai'i's sense of place guided the hotel redesign from conception to construction.

"We came to this with humility," Gilbertson said, not with a "tiki-tiki (schlocky) attitude. We're always walking in a careful balance — with sensitivity and respect. This WON'T be the (Las Vegas) Mirage (Hotel)."

Of the volcano, a concept that could have been offensive, Gilbertson said, the representation will only be "subtly suggestive" of an eruption — the design team relishes expressions such as "dancing lights," "a subtle dance of luminescence," "a whisper of light" — much as the Convention Center's front sails only whisper "grand sailing vessels." The volcano's lights will move imperceptibly at a gentle pace, Gilbertson said. "We wanted to 'touch' gently."

A recent test illumination of the volcano drew approving "oohs" and "ahhs" from curious tourists.

Gilbertson apologizes for one "Las Vegas" affectation: plans to ceremoniously light all 13 tiki torches and volcano at once.

Watch for an Oct. 1 eruption.

The Advertiser's Wade Kilohana Shirkey writes on Island Life. Reach him at 525-8090 or wshirkey@honoluluadvertiser.com.