Blaisdell Center Master Plan

The Blaisdell Center, located on the island of O'ahu, is effectively Hawai'i's largest community center. Since 1964, this 22.4-acre campus with three large performance and event venues located in the heart of urban Honolulu, has welcomed locals and visitors. Known as a place in the community where memories are made, this iconic landmark continues to serve as Honolulu's premier cultural gathering place, however it is in significant need of facility repairs, systems and infrastructure upgrades, and renovation. The Blaisdell Master Plan provides a vision to sustain, expand, and modernize the site. It is the hope that through a transformation of the civic center and an enhancement of the city's public realm, this space will showcase Hawai'i's arts and culture for the next 50 years and beyond.

As part of a larger consulting team with AECOM and Snøhetta, Community Arts Resources (CARS) led the programming, activation, infrastructure, and governance recommendations for Blaisdell's public realm. These recommendations provided a vision to guide what activities will bring the campus to life and knit the campus and neighborhood together–from everyday happenings and weekly activations to monthly events and an iconic annual signature gathering.

CARS grounded programming recommendations in extensive stakeholder outreach to Honolulu's creative community of arts and culture producers and sought to uncover how the new Blaisdell Center's urban design elements would best enhance this public space within the context of Honolulu's public realm ecosystem. Working alongside the project designer, Snøhetta, CARS advised on the physical form of the campus architecture, hardscape, landscape and public art opportunities to ensure its physical design best supported vibrant programming and activations.