The landscape of Hawai`i indelibly marks itself upon the minds of all who view it. Much of this beauty may be attributed to nature, but in fact much of it is the result of purposeful human activity. As such, Hawai`i’s landscape design is an important part of our cultural heritage, expressing the rich strength and simplicity of our multiethnic history. A series of patterned designs on the land created in response to the cultural and physical environment, Hawai`i’s landscapes and gardens reflect a lifestyle and a way of being.
Landscape design involves itself with the shaping of the landscape for human living. It concerns itself with the establishment of human relations between flora, structures, surfacing, and such environmental conditions as rainfall, sunlight, soil type and drainage patterns. The primary emphasis, however, lies with the human content, the functional/aesthetic relationship between people and three dimensional outdoor space. Landscape design is an appeal to human nature.
Large areas of our cultural landscape have resulted from utilitarian, especially agricultural, endeavors. We have evolved from an agrarian society. These designs often have no conscious aesthetic content and are rather amorphous by context. However, with the passage of time these functional designs became an expression of a place purely by repetition of ritual human activity. Taro lo`i (irrigated taro terraces), such as those at Ke`anae, have come to be considered aesthetically beautiful landscapes in their own right. Similarly, the sacred
Kukui grove, Lanikaula, on Moloka`i, has a special meaning for its associations with the prophet of the same name, which deeply influences human perception of that place and further reminds us of traditional Hawaiian culture’s strong association with place.
Other sites reflect a conscious ordering of the environment with the primary intent to provide beauty, pleasure and delight. Numerous public places such as military parade grounds, school campuses, the grounds of Board of Water Supply pumping stations and various parks, as well as numerous private gardens and estates, serve a variety of uses from ceremonial stages to serene retreats. They are defined by the selection and placement of plants, functional materials and other amenities. The development of such spaces brings together, in creative synthesis, the existing conditions of the site, its required uses, and the desire for beauty. For example, on the island of Lana`i, the Norfolk Island pine trees not only provide a means of collecting water into the ground from the air, but their verdant presence defines the landscape of Lana`i City.
Hawai`i offers a unique landscape heritage to its residents and visitors. Seasoned over time through use and cultural preferences, our landscape design is a distinct reflection of our environmental conditions and multi-ethnic situation. Hawai`i’s numerous micro-climates allow for an enormous variety of plants, many of which were introduced. Here they prosper and grow in unique combinations not found elsewhere in the world.
Much of the conscious landscape design draws from European and Asian traditions, translated into a Hawaiian context. However, the formal Italian, French and British gardens with their highly geometric and axial order, parterres, pools, avenues of trees and clipped hedges are rare in Hawai`i. Instead, the Hawaiian landscaped garden has soft edges and curving lines, reminiscent of exterior spaces associated with the late eighteenth-century romantic movement. These designs appear to be more indicative of Hawai`i’s culture, environment and lifestyle.
For Hawai`i, the preservation of our historic properties is a vital public concern. These properties reinforce the memory of an even or person, the perception of a shared identity. They remind us of how people used to live in Hawai`i, and thereby provide the community with a comprehension of itself and its heritage. Part of our heritage is the way we have related to the land. The landscape is an especially fragile part of our environment, and in many instances has been heavily modified in recent times. However, historic landscapes and gardens can still be found in the islands.
The State of Hawai`i, under the Department of Land and Natural Resources has been encouraging the identification of such places, and has supported projects which have studied the historic cultural landscape of Hanalei on the island of Kaua`i, the coffee farms on the Kona coast of Hawai`i, the cemeteries of O`ahu, the pre-1940 parks under the jurisdiction of the City and County of Honolulu and the work of landscape architect Richard Tongg. Each of these projects has further contributed to our knowledge of how people in Hawai`i have related to the land.
excerpt from introduction
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