A $21 million project has restored Bishop Museum's Hawaiian Hall to its former glory, with gleaming walls of varnished koa, bronze columns and a refurbished skylight ready to greet visitors next year.

But while the building's historic interior provides a glimpse of Hawai'i's past, it also comprises a hidden world of modern technology, museum designer Ralph Appelbaum said yesterday.

The hall, built between 1887 and 1903, is undergoing a restoration to bring it up to modern conservation and accessibility standards. Phase I is expected to be complete next summer, when the hall will be reopened to the public.

Appelbaum's design team, which has been working with the Bishop Museum since the restoration project began in 2006, has begun to install devices that will give visitors a more interactive experience.

Touchscreen monitors and video systems will give audiences new ways to access information, Appelbaum said. In addition, nature sounds and Hawaiian chants will fill the air as people stroll through the exhibits.

"There are subtle signals of the high technology behind all of this," Appelbaum said as he pulled open a wooden drawer, triggering a built-in switch connected to overhead lights.

Polished koa panels keep electrical control systems, such as those that control humidity levels, hidden from view.

An elevator has been installed in the Hawaiian Hall complex, which includes the adjacent Polynesia Hall and a newly enclosed atrium, to give disabled or elderly people better access to all the exhibits.

"It's a whole series of enhancement to the museum to really bring it into a level of performance that is 21st century," Appelbaum said.

WOODWORK RESTORED

Hawaiian Hall, which consists of three floors representing "the realm of watery origins," the realm of the people and the realm of the gods and ali'i, sits at the heart of Bishop Museum. The interior woodwork has slowly deteriorated over the past several decades, giving it a "dark, somber, almost Victorian look," Appelbaum said.

During the last two years, the interior was stripped of its paint and varnish, and the center of the room was cleared. Floors, stairways, roofing and windows have been restored.

"It was almost as if it was an old ship and the materials were revealed," Appelbaum said. "We didn't know the color of the wood but we found that the wood was spectacular."

The restored wood now exudes a kind of "honey glow," he said.

The renovated hall will house ancient Hawaiian artifacts, including delicate feather capes, woven basketry and polished wooden bowls.

The 50-foot-long sperm whale skeleton, half-enclosed by a paper-mache body, will remain suspended from the ceiling of the hall.

Exhibit designers are also planning to add new pieces to the museum's collection, including work from contemporary local artists. New paintings and photos will be displayed alongside older artifacts to show the continuance of Hawaiian culture into modern times.

"We want to show that we retain who we are," said Noelle Kahanu, a Bishop Museum project manager and member of Hawaiian Hall's five-person development team.

NARRATIVE TECHNIQUES

Other changes to the exhibits include the incorporation of direct quotes and firsthand storytelling to better engage visitors.

"We really wanted to capture the true Hawaiian perspective," Kahanu said.

Hawaiian voices will replace the "omnipotent, anonymous anthropological voice," seen so often in other museum displays, she said.

"Most objects are born through dialogue, and we want to encourage conversation," Appelbaum said.

Appelbaum leads the museum design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates, which has 125 built projects and has been contracted to complete the Hawaiian Hall project. He has won awards for his work at the U.S. Holocaust Museum and the American Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.