Punahou School has opened a 53,000-square-foot learning center named for Mary Abigail Kawena Pukui, the Hawaiian educator and scholar who once taught at the Honolulu campus and spent decades preserving ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi and Hawaiian culture. The Mary Kawena Pukui Learning Commons officially opens Tuesday alongside Punahou’s annual convocation, which marks the formal start of the school year.
Pukui taught at Punahou from 1938 to 1941, according to Hawaii News Now, before going on to a career that produced dozens of scholarly works and hundreds of songs and chants. Her family received a special tour of the new facility over the weekend, ahead of its official public debut, the outlet reports.
Punahou School board member Mike Latham called the honor a milestone for the institution, saying that honoring Pukui is “meaningful and exciting for Punahou,” per the same report. Administrators describe the new commons as a home for academic inquiry, multidisciplinary innovation, and community belonging.
A Modern Hub Built On a 1960s Foundation
The building itself sits on the site of the school’s former Cooke Library, which opened in 1965 and was designed by architect Ernest Hideo Hara. According to WhiteSpace Architects, the firm led by Laura Ayers and the late Philip “Pip” White reimagined the structure as a spatial bridge connecting Punahou’s upper Academy students with its K-8 campus community…