Pilot Internship Develops a Use and Management Plan for the Jean Charlot House
In January 2021, Nicole Bowman, a fourth-year architecture student at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa, completed a pilot summer internship through a May 2020 agreement with the University of Hawai‘i’s Community Design Center (UHCDC). The goal was to develop a use and management plan for the Jean Charlot House.* See “Innovative Partnership with University of Hawai‘i Advances Plans for Charlot House” in the HHF November 2020 newsletter for background on the program and goals.
*Learn more about the Jean Charlot House in this 2016 Honolulu Star Advertiser exclusive article, “The Jean Charlot House in Kahala is a Wonderful Integration of Art and Architecture”: https://historichawaii.org/2016/03/08/jeancharlothouse/
In September 2021, HHF Education Program Manager, Andrea Nandoskar, sat down with Nicole (via Zoom!) to learn more about her experience.
Historic Hawai‘i Foundation: Please share a little about yourself and your current studies.
Nicole Bowman: I’m currently in my second year of the Doctorate in Architecture program at UH Mānoa and am set to graduate next year. I’m from Kawaihae area on Hawai‘i Island and have lived in Hawai‘i since moving here from southern California with my family when I was six. My dad is a contractor and my parents run a construction company. I have full intentions to stay within my community after graduation and give back to the people who helped raise me.
Nicole shared she’s been interested in impacting people’s lives from a young age. Being homeschooled her education was very hands on throughout. Her parent’s work was integrated into her schooling. As a youngster she attended many of their meetings often drawing in the background while her parents discussed the projects with a variety of professionals in the design and construction industries.
NB: I was super impacted by the exposure I had through the family business especially seeing how people react with joy and excitement when they have a shelter and home to call their own. It was a touching process to work through with people and to be able to interact with different aspects of the project and see how an idea becomes a living/breathing entity and requires so many people play a role. I felt I wanted to be a part of that, though I wasn’t sure how. Those experiences jumpstarted me thinking about architecture. My family was also very involved for many years in mission work in Haiti. Our work helping people to have a house who don’t have one in lieu of building a big fancy house was profound. My thesis is actually about Haiti and doing design work there. It made me realize that I’m interested in architecture and I have a responsibility and I can tie the two together. I believe in finding meaning in life through helping others.
HHF: What prompted you to apply for the summer scholar program and what did it encompass?
I was excited to get involved in it because I knew this was an opportunity to look at a historic piece of architecture. Once I had realized that the summer internship was going to focus on preserving the Charlot House and looking at its future and the opportunities it can hold for students, faculty and the public, I was super excited. This was amplified by the interviews I was able to do.
I had the wonderful opportunity to talk to people like John Charlot, the son of Jean Charlot, I was also talking to owners and CEOs who hold high positions in the world of architecture here on O‘ahu. A really neat aspect of the project was to be able to talk to these people not so much as a student in a program but as a concerned citizen interested in preserving a really beautiful piece of architecture and history.
And to be able to get their feedback in a personal and down to earth type setting. It was interesting to note that we all congregated around the fact that this home is at risk of being lost and forgotten unless you’re in the architecture program. I found this really sad because there are so many different opportunities that lie within that home, not just for people who are in design but for people who are in art, history, preservation you name it. It caters to a lot of different disciplines. And so, it was really interesting to be able to hear from multiple backgrounds about those opportunities, their ideas, thoughts, and vision moving forward.
My job after taking the interviews was to summarize and put them together in a packet and present the range of different ideas for future use of the house. I felt we have a real opportunity at using the house as a tool to perpetuate the knowledge Jean Charlot really wanted to emphasize. He was super, super involved in the college and his community. His children went on to become very engaged as he was. It was really cool to be a part of that and realize, oh my god, I met some of these people!
In addition, it really shaped the way I see architecture. A lot of people in school may feel if I’m an architecture student the only thing I can really do is design or draw plans or do really funky looking skyscrapers.
This project really opened my eyes to architecture as a way to touch lives beyond the aspect of just designing a building. It’s preserving buildings. With design we emphasize creating new but don’t emphasize taking care of what is existing.
This was a really great opportunity to take a look at architecture that already exists and is impacting our community and say we need to help this out. Maybe this is also an opportunity to see that we already have solutions and networks within our community to solve problems that we’re seeing today. The Charlot House is a great example of an important place that ties together people from many backgrounds to form a close community network. That was really interesting to me because that wasn’t an aspect I had been shown before in my undergraduate studies. The benefits of preservation include recognizing the thought, time and material that create such places. It’s almost as if it’s a living, breathing being you are trying to take care of it and make sure that this life stays true and this legacy passes through the generations.
Talking with John Charlot, Jean Charlot’s son, it broke my heart to learn that the home is at risk of being forgotten. It was really beautiful to see how passionate his children are about their parent’s legacy. So, to be part of that continued legacy was a huge honor and a huge blessing. It really instilled in me the true meaning behind architecture. It’s not just the Wow factor that we did this great big unveiling but more how it stands up over time and how is it impacting a community 200 years later.
How is a piece of architecture contributing to society? That is ultimately what I took away from this internship. We design something and we think about it in the moment, in the present but really, we should be thinking how is this going to affect the world in 50, 75, 100 years from now? And that’s what the beautiful part of architecture is. And I think that’s what the house really emulates. It’s not only a super neat mid-century wow factor when it was built but it’s stood the test of time. The soul and spirit of the house is what is continuing on. If you lack that soul of a building it’s kind of just this empty shell.
And that’s what I loved. A family that was so on fire for giving back to the community and making sure everyone had access. That was the true spirit of what was taking place and continuing on those practices and that legacy. The people who designed it and brought it to life and who lived in it and used it to further the world as a better place. And that’s what really tugs at your heartstrings. Because then you separate the physical from the emotional. This is not just a physical problem this is an emotional thing. People will no longer have that connection if we just let this go to waste and that’s what continues a legacy. Not the physical structure but the emotional response to it and the emotional connection.
Another neat part of doing all of these interviews was choosing who to interview pinpointing what voices would echoed their knowledge and experiences related to the house. My supervisor was Daniel Friedman, former dean of the UH School of Architecture. His connections were instrumental in making these interviews with people such as architects, designers, preservationists, artists, and construction industry professionals possible.
What struck me was how so many people from so many different backgrounds were echoing the same ideas which creates more excitement for the possibilities.
To be able to connect them through this process allowed the community to see itself and realize there’s a large community already growing here which means there’s a higher probability of something really taking root. Because there are people invested in it. Now we’re aware. That was the really neat part, talking to people who were so far off from the architecture realm I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make that connection. And for them to sit there and say I do have a strong sense of connection and sense of responsibility and I do care about what takes place in the future. To be able to hear that, that it was not just the school of architecture that had the connection. It was a mix between the professionals I was interviewing and people in the school system. There are people interested from around the globe. It showed me a community expanding into the larger network. The consensus was, “I want to see that house used for good reason and the knowledge”.
I didn’t know either.
I jumped into this thinking—oh wow a summer internship about preservation! I don’t really know anything about preservation. I can learn something. And it might push me in the direction towards a future career choice. And then I realized, “woah”, this is big! This is so impactful. And then at that point I realized it was beyond career change. I think it’s more about how I view architecture entirely now.
And so it was fun to be able to sit there and get those shell shocked moments every week when I interviewed someone new.
Working with Daniel Friedman, then dean was excellent. He knew a lot of the folks I interviewed and he has a lot of close connections in the community. We’d touch base a couple times a week to brainstorm, put together the graphics and write out the responses.
HHF: Describe any “AHA” moments during this project.
NB: Finding out John Charlot, Jean Charlot’s son, lives on the same island (Hawai‘i Island) that I do! When the pandemic is over I look forward to talking with him in person. I would not have been able to make that connection without this internship program. A special takeaway from this project! It was really interesting to talk to him and realize his children have done so much to pass on their father’s legacy. Through their careers and daily lives as well as though formal programs through UH ownership of the house.
HHF: Did the project fulfill and/or exceed your initial expectations? If so, how?
NB: Exceeded!!!!!! I came into it initially with the mindset, “I need a job and I could also like it. This could be fun and more than just the paycheck and provide information and knowledge that not a lot of people have the opportunity to experience.” To: “This isn’t a job this is an experience! Jobs are easy to come by. Experiences are harder to come by.” Once I realized how much was on the line, I felt a sense of responsibility because I am a student in the architecture community. Drawn toward it as a responsibility. This all unfolded during a nasty part of the pandemic when we were all hunkered down in our homes. And the experience was one of finding unity and building community. We all were asking how can I contribute to this end goal? How can we take a baby step forward? Most amazingly, this summer internship became a “gathering the community together toolkit” which pairs with my end goal passion in life. I want to be that person of knowledge. Rallying up the troops and finding that common thread.
HHF: Please share anything else you’d like us to know.
NB: One thing that stands out is the work and research on the Charlot House that Spencer (Leineweber) who is no longer with us, did. I would love to see it more readily available. I had no idea it even existed. I never had the opportunity to meet Spencer. And the fact that we don’t have her anymore makes preserving her point of view that much more important. I heard amazing things about her and then I got to read her words.
Nicole shared that Spencer’s meticulous research and documentation were integral to her understanding of the site, architecture and Jean and Zohma Charlot’s legacy.
In summary, Nicole shared that a consistent theme running through the conversations was a strong belief that the Jean Charlot House should be preserved and made available in an appropriate manner, as a living legacy to perpetuate the values of Jean and Zohmah Charlot, who lived creative, engaged and community driven lives. Everyone interviewed agreed the home is irreplaceable and must be saved. And all were eager to help in some way to make that happen.