Noaa Inouye Regional Center

The NOAA Inouye Regional Center (IRC) encompasses the adaptive reuse of two historic, World War II-era hangars designed by Albert Kahn linked by a new addition on a national historic landmark site on Pearl Harbor’s Ford Island. The facility is a high- performing, state-of-the-art sustainable research and administrative campus rooted in NOAA’s mission, the cultural traditions of the Pacific Region and the island’s ecology. The overarching goal for the IRC is to accommodate new programmatic functions while restoring and preserving the historic character of the site. Historic guidelines require that new buildings and landscape elements be compatible but not mimic the original architecture and site design. The resulting design demonstrates an innovative approach that strikes this balance. The new building creates a front door for the NOAA campus using clear and simple forms and appropriate materials that are carefully selected to complement the scale and materiality of the existing hangar buildings, while addressing the requirement for the new facility to present itself as the headquarters for NOAA in the Pacific Region. The diverse range of functions includes wet and dry research laboratories, a dive center, research library, dining hall, fitness center, auditorium, administrative offices, conference and meeting areas, and an abundance of informal collaboration space. The vision, program and design create: - An environment for enhanced scientific research that is rooted in NOAA’s mission and the cultural traditions of the Pacific Region. - A high performance facility that aspires to be the most environmentally innovative national historic landmark in the U.S. - A public presence and identity for NOAA that promotes public outreach and education, and enhances a range of important partnerships.