To celebrate the New Year, private residential community Kohanaiki on the Big Island of Hawaii has opened an impressive 67,000 square foot clubhouse for its members. The new hub offers unique amenities such as a secret cigar lounge, wine tasting room, four lane bowling alley, Tracy Lee-designed spa, Kōnane – a new sushi bar and chophouse, a movie theater and yoga lawn. Committed to cultural preservation and environmental restoration on the Kona Coast, Kohanaiki embraced its role as a steward of the land and has diligently ensured sustainable construction methods and practices were employed.
“The clubhouse roof structure is constructed of clear western red cedar, cedar decking, and cedar purlins sourced in the Pacific Northwest and Canada and selected for their appearance, strength, and durability,” said Robert J. McBride, Clubhouse Project Manager at Kohanaiki. “We also used imported coral and other local stone found on site to construct the wall cladding, which offers lower maintenance costs,” he continued. McBride noted the building has a liquid barrier system in place on all structures.
Courtesy of Kohanaiki
The air conditioning system for the clubhouse is a direct expansion water cooled system, with a 200-ton capacity. The warm water rejected by the cooling system is used for heating the 124,000-gallon swimming pool, spa hot tubs and domestic hot water. There are also two water-cooled refrigerant racks serving the kitchen and wine lockers.
“This is the first large-scale, water-cooled Mitsubishi system ever built in the state of Hawaii,” said McBride. “Mitsubishi was amazed at how we combined their products for energy savings. Kohanaiki is the first anywhere in the world to take the design and product combination to this degree.”
Courtesy of Kohanaiki
Additional methods include low voltage and LED lighting systems connected to a programmable lighting control system to conserve energy. The mechanical design of the building allows individual control of all areas requiring air conditioning so there is nothing running where it is not needed. The club also incorporated de-humidification systems for dry, clean air in member’s areas, along with ultra violet germicidal lighting, to maintain healthy air quality. Surrounding the property are local plants that provide shade and require little water.
The Kohanaiki Clubhouse & Spa was not the first place the property utilized conscious operating methods. They began by diligently and expertly replanting and maintaining sustainable indigenous landscapes, protecting historical archaeological sites, preserving natural resources, strictly adhering to eco-sensitive building practices, and promoting informative educational programs that honor the culture of the Big Island. More than 200 anchialine ponds were restored, returning native water birds and other wildlife to the area.
Courtesy of Kohanaiki
Potable water is a precious resource for the Island of Hawai`i, especially along Kona’s drier leeward coast. Kohanaiki has developed eight brackish water wells which feed an on-site Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant for water filtration, and an 11-million-gallon lake that supplies enough water to irrigate the golf course and all of the landscaping throughout the community. These measures will cut residents’ water costs, as well as those of the club and HOA, and decreases the environmental footprint of the property.
