Atlas Lantz Studio
Waikiki
Student
Center
Honolulu, Hawaii
2023
“Shaped by Hawaiian context and campus legacy, the design transforms a building into the social and cultural center of campus life.”
The project called for the transformation of the campus core through the development of a new multi-level facility that could serve as the social, academic, and spiritual center of the school community. The building was required to support a wide range of programmatic needs, including indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, classrooms and lounges, administrative offices, a kitchen and dining hall, wellness facilities, and rooftop event spaces.
Beyond accommodating program requirements, the design was tasked with strengthening connections across the 25-acre campus, improving the daily student experience, and reinforcing the school’s commitment to sustainability and place-based learning. The facility needed to support collaboration across grade levels, promote community interaction, and express the institution’s forward-looking educational mission.
The project also required careful sensitivity to the Hawaiian context—preserving views, responding to climate conditions, and reinforcing the cultural and environmental character of the site while creating a dynamic architectural identity for the campus.
The work presented here was completed during Andy Lantz’s tenure at RIOS where he led the practice as Global Creative Director & CEO. This project is a demonstration of that leadership either through the active participation in a paid commission with a client or the efforts associated with an invited or open competition.
Project Team:
Andy Lantz, Huay Wee, Paul Westwood, Gabrielle Sacknoff, Cullen Fu , Hailey Algoe, Nick Wroth, Joyce Ip, and Bob Frederick
Project visuals by Song Studio.
Founded in 1863, ʻIolani School is a world-renowned college-preparatory institution in Honolulu serving more than 2,200 students from kindergarten through grade twelve. The commission emerged from the school’s ambition to create a new student center that would serve as the social and cultural heart of the campus. The project was intended to strengthen connections across the school community while celebrating the spirit of ʻIolani’s educational mission through a space dedicated to gathering, learning, and shared experience. Central to this vision was a careful architectural response to St. Alban’s Chapel—the first building constructed on the campus and a defining historical presence.
The new facility was therefore conceived not only as a contemporary expression of the school’s future, but as a respectful continuation of its legacy, balancing innovation with stewardship of its historic context.
Through this initiative, the school sought to reinforce its campus as a model educational environment—one that integrates community, sustainability, and long-term institutional vision while supporting the evolving needs of future generations.
The design reimagines the heart of the campus as a vibrant center for learning, gathering, and community life. Organized as a multi-level environment that integrates indoor and outdoor spaces, the facility creates a dynamic framework for interaction across all grade levels while strengthening connections throughout the campus.
The architecture responds to its context with low, carefully scaled forms that preserve views of Waikīkī’s skyline and maintain a strong relationship to the surrounding landscape. Clear spatial organization allows programs such as wellness, dining, and gathering spaces to remain visible and connected to campus life, reinforcing the building’s role as a shared destination. At an urban scale, the project establishes a new social and spiritual heart for the campus, linking major points of entry and connecting recreational fields with academic and communal spaces. The project transforms the campus experience into a cohesive, human-centered environment—one that embodies the school’s commitment to sustainability, community, and the future of education.
Let's Get Curious.
For our firm profile and brochure, new business, exciting collaborations, press inquiries or just general curiosity about the world around us, please email:
