UH Culinary Institute of the Pacific

The UH Culinary Institute of the Pacific is envisioned as a 44,000 square-foot culinary educational facility on the northern slope of the Diamond Head State Monument at the site of the former Fort Ruger Cannon Club. The design concept, developed in a community-based process led by Ferraro Choi, resulted in an innovative new campus complex linked by a series of landscaped courtyards. The Institute includes two Culinary Lab buildings, a Competition/Demonstration Auditorium, a Classroom building, an Administration building, and a Signature Educational Restaurant.

The program called for four culinary instructional laboratories, three classrooms with distance-learning capability, a culinary demonstration area and support kitchen in the Auditorium, offices and meeting areas for administration and faculty, a student lounge, and associated support spaces. A fine-dining restaurant and cocktail lounge will offer panoramic views of Honolulu and the ocean. An outdoor imu pit and three learning gardens are provided for cultural education.

Implemented sustainable design strategies included orientation for effective daylighting to optimize energy performance and the learning environment, solar hot water, and a PV-ready design for a future photovoltaic system.

In 2018, Phase 1 of the project achieved LEED 2009 For New Construction Gold Certification.