Alfred Preis

Dr. Mrs. James G. Harrison Residence (1961)

One of Preis’s last projects in his architectural career spanning from 1938 to 1962, the James Harrison Residence, stands out as a highly modern project that exemplifies the indoor-outdoor living style of the modern architecture so particular to Hawai‘i. The remarkably sparse ground floor plan hints towards a radical rethinking of interior living, a prime objective in Preis’s fruitful career. Originally designed for a family of five, the building is centered around outdoor activities, arts, and privacy from the neighbors.

The partially two-story building at the foot of Diamond Head in Honolulu is relatively opaque to the street, but it opens up internally to a courtyard formed by an L-shaped wing. This portion includes the master suite above, and a family room, kitchen, dining and living quarters below – the latter a two-story outdoor covered patio, as a novel, modern hybrid between lanai and hale. The children’s and guest wings are connected through a series of outdoor patios. The final slightly angled wing that completes this private U-shape is reserved for recreation and activity, opening equally to the courtyard and a large pool.

There was a playful materiality to the project: Preis used plastic screens as enclosures, meshed patio covers, plastered in-wall artwork, as well as fluid indoor-outdoor landscaping. This gave the project its high-modern appearance. Slender steel-columns, thin grills of wooden screens, and corrugated metal eaves frame the two-story living room and contribute to – for Preis – an unusually rigid and stark appearance. Yet the building is anything but cold. The openness and interplay with light, landscape, the wooden built-in furniture and his signature oozing brick walls provide a welcoming warmth.

Additionally, Preis’s uncanny aptitude for breaking up visual and spatial starting points of reference, and forcing perspectives by introducing angles and gradual shifts in materiality enrich the spatial experience to a maximum.

Although it was a culminating example of Hawai‘i regional modernism, the house was unfortunately significantly remodeled by later owners. It now remains only a grotesque shell of this important milestone in Hawai‘i modernist history.