Obama Presidential Center in Honolulu, Hawaii

Snøhetta’s Concept Design for the Obama Presidential Center in Honolulu, Hawaii

Sharing in the life and the legacy of the President of the United States.

Since the White House in Washington DC will soon be occupied by another president, Obama will need to settle on a new location where he will be able to show-off all of the cool things that he has done as the President of the United States.

The Obama Presidential Center, if the proposal is accepted, will be built alongside the ocean in Honolulu, Hawaii. Snøhetta, a Norway based international architecture company was invited to design the scheme for the building along with WCITArchitecture.

The buildings architecture is said to be inspired by the forms of a coral reef.

An interesting point about this design is that the building, as well as the landscape uses a sloping roof that starts from the ground and angles all the way up to the highest point of the building. This allows visitors to simply walk up and around the roof of the entire building, and make their way all the way around to view the amazing beaches as well as the skyline of Honolulu and the surrounding environment.

The interesting design doesn’t end there however, because the tallest side of the building is also lifted-up off of the ground to provide both a shaded area for visitors below as well as the added functionality of being able to better avoid natural disasters and coastal risks from the ocean.

The architectural design for this building also utilizes some interesting sustainable solutions to help effectively run the building. The roof supports what is known as a photovoltaic panel system (solar power), which helps to generate renewable energy that would then power the building.

The upward spiraling shape of the roof also allows for rainwater to be collected, which then flows down into the gardens for filtration before being stored for use in irrigating the edible gardens and feeding into the fish ponds.

Besides having fish pond’s as an attraction for visitors, there is also a ‘White House Garden’, taro fields and salt pans, which are simply used to help understand some of the traditional practices in the Hawaiian culture.

What exactly is the purpose of the Obama Presidential Center?

The main purpose is to share in the life and the legacy of the current president of America.

Aside from that, it will also house executive offices for the Obama Foundation and provide shared meeting rooms and administrative facilities for the Leadership Academy, Convening Institute, and University of Hawaii Center for Community Organizing.

As you can see, the purpose of the building will be more than just a museum for the current president of the United States, it will also have many public spaces for visitors, restaurants and will likely host many events, making the Obama Presidential Center, if accepted and constructed, one of the most popular destinations in Honolulu, Hawaii.