Internationally known designer Ralph Applebaum likes to point out that there are 37,000 museums in the world — and only one of them, he says, tells the story of Hawai'i and its people.

So when Applebaum was picked to lead a major renovation and restoration project at Bishop Museum's 100-year-old Hawaiian Hall, one of the Islands' landmark buildings, he knew he had to get it right.

It was a one-of-a-kind opportunity to retool the telling of Hawai'i history, bring the famous cut-stone building from its 19th-century origins into the 21st-century world, and, in the process, update the museum experience for residents and visitors alike.

When the renovated Hawaiian Hall reopens sometime in late 2008, the way the museum displays its vast collection of Hawaiian artifacts and the way visitors relate to them will be very different, Applebaum said.

"There will be a whole new way of telling the story of the Islands and the people who first loved them," Applebaum said.

A NEW APPROACH

For most people, it seems like Hawaiian Hall has always been there, and the displays have hardly changed over the decades.

De Soto Brown, collections manager of the museum's archives, worked with Applebaum's team to develop a new approach.

"Until now, the exhibits have always ended with the arrival of the foreign culture," Brown said. "The museum story of Hawai'i always stopped with the arrival of the immigrants."

When Hawaiian Hall reopens, he said, "the exhibits will take you into the modern era and give you a modern-era view of Hawai'i."

Applebaum collaborated with museum officials to design a new way to tell the story of Hawaiian culture and values from the bottom up.

On the first floor, visitors will enter the world of pre-contact Hawai'i.

The second floor will examine the importance of land and nature to Native Hawaiians.

The third floor will feature changing exhibits tied to modern-day issues. The exhibits will look past the romance of the Islands to the complexity of modern life.

All will be enhanced with new lighting, sounds and voices to create a fuller picture of Hawai'i history, Applebaum said.

"The goal is to provide a multiple and deeper layer of information than visitors have received in the past," he said.

The first phase of the planned $20 million project is under way, with an updating and renovation of the building's infrastructure, including lighting, computers and, for the first time, air conditioning, which will help cool visitors and preserve artifacts but come with an added cost of $17,000 a month in electric bills.

QUARRIED ON SITE

The Hawaiian Hall complex is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in three phases from 1889 to 1903, using lava stone that was quarried on the site of the museum's Kalihi campus. Restrooms were added in 1924, double steel doors in 1935, and, finally, electricity in 1968.

The Victorian-vintage, wooden display cases were designed to be observed with a library-like solemnity; they practically screamed, "Hands off!"

"In a lot of other places, when people have a 100-year-old building, they are ready to give up on it," said Applebaum, whose credits include work on dozens of new and renovated museums around the world, ranging from the American Museum of Natural History to the new U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Here in Honolulu, the building is being renewed, while prized elements are being retained.

Teams of workers have pulled out the koa-trimmed cabinets and are restoring them, bringing historic iron railings and supports back to their original, unpainted condition.

Dozens of skilled workmen are exposing volcanic stone walls and wood beams that haven't seen the light of day in almost a century. They carefully do their jobs around some of the most treasured pieces in the museum collections: The whale still hangs from the ceiling, wrapped in tarps; the heiau model has been encased in a protective plywood box, and the fish god ... well the fish god they just left where it was, after workers jack-hammered two feet deep into the building's floor and still could not figure out a way to safely heft the statue out, Brown said.

PROJECT LONG DELAYED

During the renovations, two other parts of the Hawaiian Hall complex — Polynesian Hall and the Vestibule/Picture Gallery — will largely remain open. They'll be restored at a later date.

The project, first envisioned in 1984 and left on the drawing board until now for lack of funding, is also adding a glass-enclosed courtyard space that will be used for hula performances and provide a dramatic elevator entry to the building.

About half the money needed for the Hawaiian Hall has been raised, with $4 million coming from the state government, $2 million from the state Office of Hawaiian Affairs, $1 million from Princess Abigail Kawananakoa and grants from local nonprofit groups.

"It's not a small job," said outgoing Bishop Museum president Bill Brown, and when Hawaiian Hall reopens, "it will be world- class and wonderful."

DON'T WORRY: FAVORITES WILL REMAIN

Some things should never change. While the Hawaiian Hall complex will emerge as a new experience in 2008, the museum's sperm whale skeleton, acquired more than 100 years ago and beloved by generations of visitors, will still be there. So will the heiau model, Hawaiian grass hale, stone fish god and many other artifacts that thousands of museum-goers have cherished for so long.

Reach Mike Leidemann at mleidemann@honoluluadvertiser.com.