Kīlauea Groundbreaking Within Sight for Namahana School

Local Architecture, Engineering and Construction Team Reinforces North Shore Community and Heritage

As the North Shore Kaua’i community continues to rebuild and heal after Hurricane Lowell, Namahana School is picking up momentum on its campus buildout and announces major developments on its permanent campus construction effort. Driven by an exceptional Kaua‘i-based AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) team assembled earlier this year, Kīlauea-based Noho Workshop is laying the groundwork for a locally-inspired design, permits have been submitted and planning is now underway for a December groundbreaking at the school’s 11.3-acre site across from the Kīlauea Post Office.

“After the hurricane, I watched our North Shore ʻohana show up for each other in such beautiful ways,” said Namahana School Leader Dr. Kapua Chandler. “We're so grateful that our AEC team kept us on track through all of it. I can see what a resource Namahana School is going to be for our community, not just as a school, but also as a gathering place for all of Kīlauea and the North Shore.”

“I see Namahana as a piko, a center for the community to come together,” said Kīlauea born-and-raised Noho Principal Kanoa Chung. “When you think about how Kīlauea Town is going to grow in the future, the school is going to be very central to that. In Hawai‘i the piko is your umbilical cord – your center and where life comes from. Children are our future, so that’show I see the school and its role as a cultural and social center for the future of our community.”

In July, Noho Workshop completed a flexible, cost-effective design rooted in Namahana's educational program and the local vernacular heritage of Kīlauea. Noho’s trademark architectural style draws inspiration from place and local culture, making it a perfect fit for Namahana’s community- and ‘āina-based learning model.

“To us, ‘āina-based architecture means being connected to this place,” added Noho’s other Principal, Nathan Teixeira, who is also a Kīlauea native. “Buildings begin on a site and the first thing is understanding the site that you're creating on. Here we have a rich history and cultural heritage that’s also rooted in ‘āina, so as architects we can really lean into that. It’s an honor to have an opportunity to then translate these elements into a school, because we get to tell the story of these values through building and space, and hopefully continue to foster respect for this place through the architecture.

”Namahana’s campus will unfold in phases, with the first phase focused on creating 12 classrooms to accommodate 180 students (three grades), along with outdoor learning and administrative spaces. The spatial distribution is developed around key viewplanes such as Namahana ridge and Nihokū, as well as prevailing North Shore weather patterns and winds. With a simple structural organization that permits adaptability to different uses over time, the campus embodies key elements of the school’s educational program, including student-centered learning, advisory-centered interactions, ‘āina-based environments, and real-world community integration. As additional grades are added, the campus will expand in subsequent phases that include the remaining 12 classrooms, creative maker spaces and sports facilities. Planning takes into consideration the expansion of Kīlauea Town and pedestrian and traffic circulation around the school.“We’ve learned a great deal about our day-to-day needs and how to meet longer-term goals during our first year in operation, and the design created by the Noho team strikes the perfect balance of simplicity and elegant functionality,” said Chandler.

“It’s clear that the entire AEC team has deep aloha for our community and they’ve woven that into every step of the campus design and construction planning.”

The AEC team has been lauded for its strong working relationships and emphasis on circulating resources, knowledge and labor within the local economy. From design to project management to engineering and contracting personnel, the team has worked closely on past projects and shares both a personal and generational commitment to uplifting the North Shore community.

“I think it'll be amazing for the kids in our community to have a school like Namahana in Kīlauea, and I’m sure it will provide some of those opportunities that so many have gone off-island for in the past,” noted Chung, who boarded at Kamehameha School in Honolulu after 6th grade at Kīlauea Elementary. Much later, he returned home after working on high-profile projects in Singapore and Los Angeles, and Noho Workshop now merges this global design perspective with Kaua‘i’s unique history and identity.

“A lot of times, projects of this scale look to other islands or the Mainland to find people, but we do have the skill set and the labor to do this type of work on-island, so it’s a nice way of showing what Kaua‘i professionals are capable of,” said engineering and infrastructure lead Devin Swanson, who was also raised in Kīlauea, where he eventually co-founded Kaua‘i Civil LLC.

Rounding out the AEC team is SG Builders, a Kīlauea-based general contractor with strong ties to the Kaua‘i construction community. “This is an amazing opportunity to be able to contribute what we do best and also give back to the community in the form of a school,” said the firm’s general manager, Sam Goldberg, who commuted from Kīlauea to Island School in Līhu‘e for middle and high school, often waking up at 4:30 a.m. to beat morning traffic and returning after dark in order to participate in after-school sports. “We’re really trying to help grow the construction industry on Kaua‘i, and we want to establish more viable careers on-island so that young people don’t feel like they have to move away,” added Goldberg, who served in the U.S. Navy as a Navy Diver before returning home to join the family business.

“This is one of the strongest collectives I’ve worked with in 20-plus years,” affirmed Project Manager Gordon Karau. “Our deep institutional relationships and Kauaʻi roots make this a project that represents the true potential of island talent.” Karau is a third-generation construction professional with more than 20 years of experience in Hawai‘i. He has worked with the Noho team on Kaua‘i for over a decade and led major multi-use development projects across Hawaiʻi, Canada, Mexico and Costa Rica. Karau is skillfully managing the construction process in a way that adapts to Namahana’s atypical revenue model, which is driven by philanthropic donations.

Namahana Education Foundation (NEF) is now laser focused on meeting a $15 million goal for Phase 1. The nonprofit foundation currently has $7.5 million committed toward this goal, and is actively working to reach $10 million by December 31, which will keep the school on schedule to break ground that month and open Phase 1 classrooms in the fall of 2028. In the meantime, classes will continue to be held at the temporary Kula School only 10 minutes away, a campus generously leased by the Lindner family who also believe in expanding educational opportunities for Kaua‘i’s North Shore.

“We will continue to fundraise as we build,” explained NEF Co-Executive Director Bridget Thorpe. “We’re committed to ensuring our current ninth-graders in the Class of 2030 can graduate on their own campus, and we believe in our community’s capacity and resolve to make that happen.”

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About Namahana School

Namahana School is a tuition-free Hawai‘i public charter middle and high school for the North Shore of Kaua‘i, and the first middle and high school for the remote rural communities ofKoʻolau and Haleleʻa. In August 2025, it welcomed its first cohort of students in grades 7 and 8 to a temporary campus just outside Kīlauea. Namahana’s pedagogy, guided by the international Big Picture Learning network and ‘āina-based learning, emphasizes cultivating deep connections with students’ communities and natural environment to build critical skills that can be applied to solving real-world problems.

About Namahana Education Foundation

Namahana Education Foundation (NEF) is an independent nonprofit organization established to advance Namahana School’s mission. NEF manages the fundraising and construction process for the school campus, and generates ongoing community support to cover operational costs not met by the state’s per-student allocation. NEF has raised over $10 million since inception to support the school and campus buildout.