NOAA Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center

Ferraro Choi teamed with premier mainland architect HOK of San Francisco to design the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Daniel K. Inouye Regional Center (Laboratory and Office Complex) on historic Ford Island at Pearl Harbor.

The 374,000 square-foot facility consolidates NOAA’s many Honolulu-area offices and labs into a single, efficient campus facility including pier facilities for NOAA’s Hawaii-based research and fisheries enforcement vessels and small boats. Facilities include office space, wet laboratories, marine animal tanks, and administration and support space for NOAA’s research, conservation management and enforcement programs. NOAA retained NAVFAC Pacific to administer the design, engineering and construction contracts.

Completed in 2015, the project achieved LEED NC v2.0 Gold certification. In 2017, the Center was recognized with the AIA Committee on the Environment (COTE) Top Ten award, garnering national attention. In addition to its sustainable design, the complex places many of its program activities and spaces in three renovated historic hangar buildings and incorporates Hawaiian cultural themes that complement the NOAA mission. Two of the hangars are inter-connected by a new building that serves as the facility’s technology systems core and main entrance. The first floor of the new building includes a visitor center, conference facilities, an exhibition area, and cafeteria-style dining.