Aloha Spirit Captured in a Book about Inspired Homes in Hawaii
In the book The Hawaiian House Now, by Linny Morris and Malia Mattoch-McManus, 21 homes across four of the Hawaiian Islands are fully featured with history, owner’s comments, and many photographs. These houses are beautiful and amazing - all of them - but that’s not the best thing about the book.
The author says “These are not houses that represent the realities of day-to-day living in Hawai’i, but they are recognizable as part of an island experience.” And they are. My husband and I not only recognize the spirit of Hawaii in these homes, but also some of the homes themselves. We’ve seen them. They exist. Real people live in them. Intricate realities of living in Hawaii are tackled in these houses, like dealing with termites and humidity, building off the sides of mountains, hurricane threats, and constant influxes of sand and salt air.
My favorite home in the book is the one titled “An Infiltration of Elements”, describing a home that sometimes has actual clouds blow right through it. Talk about being one with nature. There are some areas of the islands that you can just open your house up to everything, because there are no bugs (or very little bugs). Houses like this can be built with huge sliding or hidden doors that literally let entire walls open up to let in views and in this case, part of the pool.
Houses like this are awesome - just making your jaw drop as you enter them. You don’t see walls or windows - you see ocean, sunsets, mountains and sky. You watch the whales from your dining room table. You listen to dolphins call to each other while relaxing for bed. You live outside, even while living inside. I think this is the true pull that people feel to move to Hawaii - they want to enjoy nature and beauty all year round. They want to see blue water meet blue sky every morning when they open their eyes. That’s one of the coolest things about Hawaii, is almost no matter where you live, you can have some sort of an ocean view. And if you can’t see the ocean - man look at those mountains! And if you don’t want to look at the mountains - wow! check out that active volcanic vent! And if the volcano is winding down a bit, well let’s just focus on the absolute beauty of that rainforest creeping into our nicely mowed yard. Ahh, the promise of a home in Hawaii …
This rich book is available here: Harry N. Abrams Books
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