14-2054 14TH AVE

Custom-built home in Kea’au, Hawai’i, living in harmony with the natural surroundings.

Semi-Off-Grid on The Big Island

Completed in 2019 this two-story single family home in Kea’au, Hawai’i was designed with comfort, function and cost in mind. A minimalist footprint housed a variety of different spaces including storage, utility rooms, and covered parking on the ground floor, plus a covered lanai, wrap-around porch, kitchen, walk-in pantry, living room, three bedrooms, and two bathrooms on the second floor.

The living space featured a long vaulted open space with entry walls separating the living room from the kitchen. The house was positioned on the lot to take full advantage of the trade winds. Humidity in Hawai’i can only be matched with wind so the whole house was designed to provide maximum air flow. Ceiling fans in every room and jalousie windows above sliding windows created circulation that could be adjusted for different seasons and different times of day.

Empty living room with wooden floor and ceiling, windows and glass door leading outside, ceiling fan, and wall hooks on white wall.
Kitchen with white cabinets, stainless steel appliances, wood flooring, and a wooden ceiling with a ceiling fan. There is a sliding glass door leading to a balcony or patio area.
Empty room with blue walls and ceiling, large windows showing an outdoor view of trees and grass, and a door with stairs leading outside.
Empty blue enclosed porch with multiple large windows, white trim, wood flooring, and a closet with white doors.

A covered lanai looking out onto the backyard was joined to the kitchen with a sliding glass door. Half-walls, railings and big open windows created an outdoor space that was also shielded from weather.

The grounds featured a circular driveway, multiple garden beds, a gravel road to the upper section of the lot, many native o’hia trees, guavi, ferns and palms. Wherever possible the natural undulation of the lava was left intact. This selective style of grading is more difficult but in the end much more beautiful and preservative. It’s the opposite of what many people do in Hawaiian Paradise Park – and that is bulldoze the entire piece of land, creating one level square, devoid of any native plant life and ripe for weeds and invasive species.

Because of the remote location, the house was built semi-off-grid. It was connected to the power grid but water and sewer services do not exist in many parts of the Big Island. A septic tank was buried in the back yard and a rain catchment system provided water.

A blue house with a white roof and stairs in a rural landscape, surrounded by trees and plants under a cloudy sky.
A blue two-story house with an external staircase on a gravel driveway, surrounded by trees and cloudy sky.
A blue two-story house with a metal roof and a staircase leading to the second floor, situated on a cleared, slightly sloped yard with patches of grass and dirt, surrounded by trees.

The large surface area of the roof ensured that as much rain as possible could be collected by gutters and fed into a 10,000 gallon holding tank. A UV filtration system cleaned the rainwater, making it usable for showers, cooking and washing. As much as it rains in this part of the island, without enough roof space, many people end up having to pay for water delivery during dry months. With the large roof the catchment tank was often overflowing.

The roof also supported two solar panels that were used for the hot water heater instead of propane. Natural gas is not available and the cost of electric power is very high in Hawai’i so LED lighting and the solar panels mitigated this expense. More solar panels could potentially alleviate the need for grid power entirely.

A blue two-story house with white trim and a metal roof, featuring an exterior staircase leading to a balcony, and a garage door on the lower level, set against a cloudy sky with trees in the background.
Interior of a blue room with gravel flooring, with an opening showing a staircase outside and trees in the background.
Unfinished basement with blue painted walls, exposed ceiling, gravel floor, and a staircase leading outside, with large windows showing an outdoor landscape.

Underneath the living space a carport and massive storage area provided ample storage space. In Hawai’i the elements are relentless. Covered space is a coveted necessity for tools, gardening supplies, lumber and belongings. Nothing can be left outdoors unless it’s utterly indestructible.

Instead of a traditional garage, Peter opted to create covered parking and garden supply storage with two spaces that were easy to access but also protected from rain. Adjacent was a fully enclosed space with a concrete floor that was used to store tools and building materials, house the water filtration system and provide space for gear and other personal belongings.

Shower with beige subway tiles, pebble floor, black rain showerhead, and window with a view of trees.
Bathroom with a toilet and a walk-in shower with beige tiles and black fixtures.
Bathroom with a white vanity, black vessel sink, and a mirror above. There is a window with wooden trim and a toilet in the corner. The walls are light-colored with a textured finish, and the floor has dark tiles with white grout.

The bathrooms featured natural stone, slate, wood and granite. The focus on high contrast throughout the house was continued with black fixtures, white cabinets and white walls. In the larger bathroom, the shower and floor featured light colored stone and in the half bath a darker slate was used on the floor. Cedar trim and built-in shelving completed the custom look.

A bathroom with a white vanity cabinet, a black vessel sink, and black faucet. Above the sink is a mirror and a light fixture with three exposed bulbs. To the right is a walk-in shower with beige tiles and pebble floor, separated by a partial wall.
Empty room with wood flooring, white walls, wooden window frames, ceiling fan, and a ceiling light fixture with three bulbs. Large windows showing trees outside.
Empty room with white walls, hardwood flooring, three large windows with wooden trim, and a ceiling fan.

Three bedrooms each featured vaulted ceilings, wood floors, cedar-trimmed windows, custom-built closets and track lighting. Peter had noticed that with ceiling fans always running in Hawai’i houses, a pulsing effect was created with recessed lighting in the ceiling. He opted to use track lighting placed lower than the ceiling fan to avoid the strobe effect.

Empty room with wooden flooring, beige walls, window on the right, ceiling fan, and built-in wooden shelves in a small closet.
Empty room with wooden floors, white walls, a large window with wooden trim, shelves on the left wall, and a ceiling fan with wooden blades.

Wooden jalousie style slats were installed above all the bedroom doors to enhance air flow while maintaining privacy.

Closet doors were scrapped and the tops of the closets remained open and trimmed instead of covered with more framing and drywall. In this area of the Big Island, mold is a guarantee without enough air flow to keep walls and belongings dry. Closed in closets become the perfect environment to ruin clothes instead of preserve them! This method created a container for organization that could still breathe.

A lot of mainland expectations don’t make sense in a tropical climate. Although Hawai’i is adopting many building codes from the mainland, the design and function of a Hawai’i house should be centered around this very unique environment.

While the architectural design was far simpler than the Tahoe houses that have come before it, this house proved to be ideal for the climate and equipped with ample storage. It was one of the most unique and well-built houses in the neighborhood and had a full-price offer within two weeks of being listed.

Empty room with white walls, wooden trim around two windows, a wood floor, and a ceiling fan with wooden blades.
Empty bedroom with wooden trim, hardwood floor, two windows with wooden frames, ceiling fan, and an open closet space with a shelf and hooks.

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