About

The Holistic Housing Lab grew from Future of Hawai‘i’s Housing, a multi-year research and design initiative led by Karla Sierralta and Brian Strawn as independent Principal Investigators at the School of Architecture at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in collaboration with the Hawai‘i Public Housing Authority.

The foundational research began with conversations with 30 families in their homes across five islands. Their experiences and perspectives were studied alongside housing precedents, local density and building typologies, public housing and development models, policy, funding, and the larger systems that shape how housing is planned, designed, built, and inhabited.

This work established an approach to housing that moves between scales and disciplines, connecting the experiences of everyday life with the design of housing, neighborhoods, communities, and the systems that support them. It led to the development of the Holistic Housing Design Framework and Toolkit and continues to inform the Lab’s research, design studies, public outreach, educational collaborations, and professional advocacy.

Initially developed in Hawai‘i, this work continues to evolve through partnerships with communities, public agencies, nonprofit organizations, design professionals, researchers, and students. Academic collaborations with architecture and design schools in other states, as well as at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, provide opportunities to test its adaptability across different communities, cultures, climates, and housing contexts.

Holistic Housing Lab, Co-Founders
Karla Sierralta, AIA, Director
Brian Strawn, AIA