Increasing Accessibility and ADA Compliance to Keawawa Wetland
Partner organization: Livable Hawai’i Kai Hui
Team members: Ethan Smith, Louis Ou, Christopher King and Brendan Reilly
This project aimed to enhance accessibility to the Keawawa Wetlands while prioritizing the preservation of cultural heritage and ecological integrity. Central to our approach is the perspective of the Hawaii Kai Hui members, our primary sponsors, whose insights have guided our efforts. Additionally, we distributed surveys to community members, particularly focusing on the preferences of local residents, including senior community members, so that Hawaii Kai Hui could get feedback about the wetlands. Collaboration with experts on cultural preservation, like Ann Marie Kirk, has further ensured our recommendations honor the area’s unique heritage. The design concepts generated from this project focused on creating sustainable access pathways that fostered community engagement and appreciation for the rich cultural history of the Keawawa Wetlands while prioritizing the values and insights of the Hawaii Kai Hui.
The goal of the project was to analyze Livable Hawaii Kai Hui’s (LHKH) perspectives with respect to cultural and natural resources and habitats. We also provided preliminary designs of alternative site modifications to the Keawawa Wetlands in order to increase overall site accessibility. To complete this we identified 4 objectives:
- Gauge community preference for controlled access to complex
- Creating methods to analyze LHKH’s perspectives
- Providing preliminary designs for for site modifications for increasing accessibility
- Communicate and use resources from people in the community for improvement of cultural and natural resources
To ensure that the Keawawa Wetlands can be enjoyed by everyone, including older adults and those with disabilities, we had to carefully consider how we can balance increased accessibility with the preservation of cultural and natural resources. This is important for our project and the community because it allows for the proper communication of ideas and reasoning behind the culture and needs of the wetland. We had the task of focusing on increasing accessibility to the wetland, but not at the cost of encroaching on the wetland habitat or on the cultural aspects of the wetland. To do this, we had to design a bridge over the wetlands to the hale (an open, culturally important building). Along with this, we created prototypes for sustainable pathways that people and vehicles can traverse. We planned on creating ideas for signage that ensures visitors understand the educational aspect of the wetland as well, however, Livable Hawaii Kai Hui found an alternative solution. The involvement that we wanted from the community was based on how they would like to increase their time inside the wetland, along with how we can create an experience for them to learn, understand, and involve themselves with the native Hawaiian culture.