Namahana Taps Kīlauea-Based Firm to Lead Campus Construction

The NoHo Team: Nathan Teixeira, Kanoa Chung, Stephen Durham, Domingo Loero, Ian Ham Young (not pictured), Rafael Sampaio Rocha (not pictured).

Decision Reaffirms School’s Commitment to be “From and For the Community”

 Kīlauea, Hawai‘i — Namahana School announced today that the Kīlauea-based architecture firm Noho Workshop will oversee the buildout of its campus, in partnership with locally and internationally respected planner Gordon Karau as facilities project manager. Led by Kīlauea born-and-raised Kanoa Chung and Nathan Teixeira, Noho represents a pivot to a locally driven campus design and construction process, a move applauded by key stakeholders for its alignment with the school’s commitment to be from and for Kaua‘i’s North Shore community.

"Namahana is a community-driven initiative decades in the making, and reconnecting the campus buildout to Kīlauea brings us back to our roots in such a meaningful way,” said Namahana School Leader Dr. Kapua Chandler. “The Noho team truly understands the nuances and needs of our community, and partnering with Gordon's expertise gives us so much confidence in the spaces we'll be creating together for our youth. Everything is truly coming together—from the construction budget and timeline to the vision we've held for so long."

This past August, Namahana welcomed its inaugural cohort of students in grades 7 and 8 at the temporarily leased Kula School in nearby Waipakē. In 2023, the school purchased 11.3 acres of land in Kīlauea to develop a campus that reflects its ‘āina-based learning model. 

The school had previously planned to utilize prefabricated units produced internationally. But recent geopolitical changes, including tariffs, resulted in higher construction costs and longer lead times, with fewer local contractors willing to take on the project. By contrast, Noho Workshop’s solid relationships with local builders and suppliers will make the bidding and construction process faster and more cost effective.

“Engaging Noho means that our hard-won resources are supporting the local economy and community as much as possible,” said Namahana Education Foundation Chair Kau‘i Fu. “They represent locally integrated and ʻāina-based architecture that will honor the design principles we worked so hard to develop. This is a more fiscally responsible decision that also reinforces our commitment to making Namahana a locally led initiative from the ground up.”

“I remember being promised a North Shore high school when I was a kid. So to now be a part of this all-hands-on-deck effort to make a community dream come true feels very fulfilling,” said Kanoa Chung, who founded the architecture and design firm in 2012 after working in Los Angeles, Singapore and Hawai‘i. “Our ethos at Noho comes from a strong appreciation for the value of place, which resonates with Namahana School’s ‘āina-based learning.  We didn’t think twice about taking on a project to honor Kaua‘i’s roots and uplift its future.”

Working closely with the Noho team, Gordon Karau will serve as Director of Planning and Capital Projects. This is a key role that oversees the building process through completion to ensure that it is delivered on time, within budget, and up to quality and safety standards. Karau’s background is in the development of sustainable communities with a focus on resort-residential real estate. His international portfolio with projects in Hawai‘i, Mexico, Costa Rica, and British Columbia is distinguished by its integration of ecological, energetic and economic systems. He has strong ties to Kaua‘i, where he oversaw the development of Common Ground in Kīlauea, among other projects. 

“As we move into this next phase of our campus buildout, we are humbled for the dedication and expertise this local team brings to execute our community’s vision,” said Namahana Education Foundation Interim Co-Executive Director Sarah Wright. NEF, the nonprofit organization overseeing campus construction and fundraising, has already received water rights from the county and will be updating the construction plans with Noho. This process will maintain the design principles that Namahana originally articulated in partnership with community stakeholders and G70 in 2020. 

In the meantime, students in grades 7-9 will continue to learn at the temporary Kula School campus. “We are tremendously grateful to Jeff Lindner and his ʻohana for granting Namahana temporary use of their site. Thanks to their support, our founding families were given a home that sets the stage for generations to come,” said NEF Interim Co-Executive Director Bridget Thorpe, who previously served as the foundation’s Chief Development Officer. She and Wright, who previously served as NEF’s Chief Administrative Officer, are currently assuming leadership for the foundation after Melanie Parker stepped down from the executive director role to attend to family matters. 

“The Kula campus has also given us much-needed space to refocus our construction planning and our new partnership with Noho is the dream outcome,” continued Thorpe. “This isn’t the first time we’ve made a pivot that aligned more closely with our values; thanks to the agility and support of our community, we shifted our original plan to develop a campus on leased land in Wai Koa to purchasing a forever campus in the heart of Kīlauea. With the community as our compass, every step forward has enabled us to better serve the North Shore.”

NEF continues with its ambitious fundraising campaign to complete essential middle school classrooms, which will be followed by high school facilities and other learning spaces. To learn more about how to make this longstanding North Shore dream a reality, visit www.namahana.org.

About Namahana School 

Namahana School is a tuition-free Hawai‘i public charter middle and high school for the North Shore communities of Kaua‘i, and the first public post-primary school for the remote rural communities of Koʻolau and Haleleʻa. In August 2025, it welcomed its first cohort of approximately 100 students in grades 7 and 8 to a temporary campus just outside Kīlauea. Namahana’s educational model, 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.