280 Beach Walk added 31,500 SF of world-class, lifestyle retail program to the vibrant experience of Waikiki’s Kalakaua Avenue. Pedestrians are greeted by a building composed of a series of two-story storefronts each accentuated by a dramatic glazed-tile roof form in a way that recalls the street-oriented building traditions of Hawai`i’s earliest places of commerce.

The stepped façade responds to the natural curvilinear geometry of Beach Walk as it creates a rhythm of repetition consistent with the buildings of the surrounding context. As a means to further enrich the pedestrian movements toward and along the proposal, specific storefront dimensions will be set to classic proportions of width and height that are familiar to human scale. In this way, the design approach suggests a relationship between elevation and roof architecture that functions to seamlessly tie 280 Beach Walk into both the urban form and individual experience of Waikiki.