University Of Hawaii Library, Honolulu, 1971
Honolulu, HI
1971
Architect: A. Quincy Jones Architects
The Honolulu Library, completed in 1971 by A. Quincy Jones, is located on the University of Hawaii campus. Though not a building in Southern California, the building’s style shows Jones’ reach as an architect and the low-slung brutalist type design elements that he applied to much of his campus architecture. The Honolulu Library, for example, holds some features in common with the Leo F. Cain Library located at Cal State University Dominguez Hills. Both occupy a dominant place on the campus, but the Honolulu Library’s thin floating roof and extruded exterior panels gives it a greater sense of weightlessness. It is also evidence of Jones’ preference to work with Thom, asking him to travel to Hawaii to photograph his latest commission instead of hiring a local photographer. Thom would obtain many opportunities to photograph buildings on the Islands as business between Pacific Rim and West Coast interests demanded new structures to support meetings. These photographs, taken in rich black and white, create a stark contrast bewteen the clean, white building and the campus behind it.
References:
Cory Buckner, A. Quincy Jones, London: Phaidon, 2007.