Hawaii State Capitol

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The Hawaii State Capitol is the official statehouse or capitol building of the

The Hawaii State Capitol is an American adaptation of the Bauhaus style termed "Hawaiian international architecture". It was designed by a partnership between the firms of Belt, Lemon and Lo (Architects Hawaii Ltd.), and John Carl Warnecke and Associates. Unlike other state capitols modeled after the United States Capitol, the Hawaii State Capitol's distinct architectural features symbolize various natural aspects of Hawaii. Among them:

• The building is surrounded by a reflecting pool, symbolizing the Pacific Ocean.
• The two legislative chambers are cone-shaped, symbolizing volcanoes that formed the Hawaiian Islands.
• The columns around the perimeter of the building have shapes resembling
  royal palm trees. There are eight columns in four rows at either side of the building, representing the eight main islands
  of Hawaii; sets of eight items appear in other places inside and along the outside of the building.
• The Capitol is built with an open-air design, allowing sun, wind, and rain to enter; the central atrium opens to the sky and rainbows can sometimes be seen inside the building when it rains.
• Four kukui nut trees (Hawaii's state tree) are a numerical reference to the four main counties in the State of Hawaii and the four major Hawaiian gods (Kukailimoku, Kane, Lono, and Kanaloa).[2] Sets of four items appear in many other places in the building.
• When standing in the center of the structure, the chandeliers from both legislative chambers, which represent the sun and moon, can be seen through the glass walls, while the area that is normally reserved for a rotunda in most capitol buildings is left open to the sky. It is said that the sky is Hawaii's capitol dome.
• German-American artist Otto Piene designed the chandeliers, which are kinetic sculptures made of small objects. The Sun chandelier in the House is made of dozens of gold-plated globes, and the Moon chandelier in the Senate is made of 620 white chambered nautilus shells.^[2]

• 
  The Hawaii State Capitol is on Beretania Street.
• 
  The central atrium
• 
  Statue of Father Damien outside the Hawaii State Capitol Building
• 
  Statue of

  Queen Liliʻuokalani

  on the opposite side of the building
• 
  Reflecting pool
• 
  Hawaii State Capitol photographed from the rim of Punchbowl Crater

Reflecting pool algae issue

From the time the Capitol was completed in 1969, the reflecting pool has had a persistent algae growth problem, due partly to the fact the pool is fed with brackish water from on-site wells. Attempts by the state to fix the problem included introducing tilapia fish into the pool and installing an ozone treatment system.^[3] The state currently has the pool lining scrubbed manually with enzymes added to the water to combat growth. Some Capitol regulars say the algae growth has come to represent the pollution of the Pacific Ocean, in an ironic twist of the original symbolic meaning of the pool.^[4]

See also

• List of state and territorial capitols in the United States

Citations

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Hawaii State Capitol.

• Official website
• Historic Honolulu (The Capitol District)
• Description of Hawaii State Capitol from CUPOLA