This sophis­ti­cat­ed house for an inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned heart sur­geon was designed express­ly for West­ern­ers who have a deep appre­ci­a­tion of Japan­ese cul­ture. Ele­ments inter­pret­ing Japan­ese cul­ture select­ed for abstrac­tion and inter­lac­ing with­in a con­tem­po­rary Hawai­ian set­ting are the unfold­ing entry pro­ces­sion­al through the gate, gar­den, and gallery via engawa or cov­ered veran­das; the raised liv­ing room plat­form defin­ing domes­tic life; the exposed struc­tur­al join­ery sys­tem of clear fir; and the roof of glazed clay tiles, edged with copper.

Respond­ing to the nat­ur­al quiet­ness of the site, the house’s design places the pri­vate fam­i­ly quar­ters on the upper lev­el.  The east wing of the ground floor com­pris­es the infor­mal liv­ing spaces for a large fam­i­ly with live-in young adults and vis­it­ing mar­ried chil­dren, while the west wing is the cen­ter for for­mal enter­tain­ment, open­ing to the tran­quil lagoon and rock gardens.