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WHEN YOU DRIVE DOWN THE COAST ALONG KONA’S HIGHWAY

19, you pass a rock wall sign for the relatively new devel-opment Hualälai, at Historic Ka‘upulehu. Turn toward the

ocean and there, amid brown lava from an 1801 Hualälai flow,you find an unexpected and stunningly green oasis of luxuryhomes.

Hualälai is a new name for the area that was historicallycalled Ka‘upulehu (literally, “the roasted breadfruit”). One talesays that the volcano goddess Pele met two girls roasting ‘ulu(breadfruit) there. Only one of them, a girl named Pahinahina,shared her food with Pele, and that night Pele caused the volcanoHualälai to erupt and destroy the village of Ka‘upulehu, but shespared Pahinahina’s home.

Now homes have again sprung up in the area, and these arehouses of a very different nature. One—a new, 5,625-sq. ft. struc-ture—was developed by Knudson Luxury Housing as a “turn-key”home. It pays tribute to its Hawaiian setting by making the mostof gorgeous ocean and mountain views, fresh sea breezes andlush tropical plants. Toni Knudson, director of design at Knudson

At Home In Hualäälai

TURN-KEY RESIDENCE OFFERS LUXURY LIVING IN HISTORIC OCEANSIDE COMMUNITY

Architecture by/ H & S InternationalInterior Design by/ W Interiors

Text by/ Leslie LangPhotography by/ David Duncan Livingston

TOP: W Interiors designed a contem-porary Asian inspired cabinet hand-made by Heartwoodworks. A kapaby Big Island legend Pua Van Dorpegraces the wall.

RIGHT: The artwork is remotelycontrolled to roll up into the framerevealing a plasma TV recessedinto the wall. The angular lines ofthe console are balanced by thesensuous curves of the sculpture.

Looking through the great roomones sees the custom woven entrygates past an enclosed courtyardwhose path meanders past tropicalgreenery and koi pond.

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ABOVE: A custom rug from JoanWeismann provides grounding for acustom dining base and chairs. Theart was created by renowned BigIsland artist Hiroki Morinoue.

LEFT: The office is a study in toneand texture. The owner is affordedviews to the koi pond from one viewpoint, and the golf and mountainsfrom the other.

ABOVE: The grand länai is an extensionof the great room and living space.

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ABOVE: Madge Tennant etchings hang over aleather bed appointment with Anichini linens.

ABOVE: Avi Kiriaty’s “Long Neck” and“Madonna” hang over woven twin beds.

ABOVE: A cozy guest living room opens intolush green grass through pocket doors. Thedetached guest house offers a king-sized bed,its own washer and dryer, wet bar, coffee barand fridge, as well as glass walls that open tothe courtyard.

LEFT: a breakfast nook that overlooks the koipond in the central courtyard, provides a tran-quil spot to sip tea or plan a menu

Luxury Housing, explains that building such residences is allabout creating a lifestyle. “Most of the people who buy thesehomes are multiple homeowners,” she says, “and this is theirfourth or fifth home. Many of them are extremely affluent, withvery busy lives and classic Type A personalities. It’s not just aboutgiving them a home; it’s creating that ultimate luxury lifestyleand that instant gratification.”

This elegant home definitely says “luxury lifestyle.” Passingthrough its custom-designed, mahogany-stained slatted gate,which matches the garage door, you enter a peaceful, well-land-scaped courtyard where water trickles down a two-toned bronzeArchie Held sculpture into a pond. Koi swim amidst lily padsand traditional Hawaiian taro.

It barely feels like you’re inside when you step from thecourtyard into the rather formal Great Room. Knudson talksabout having made a conscious decision to emphasize the out-doors. “I think until you live here, you don’t understandindoor/outdoor living,” she says. “I think that’s really unique toHawai‘i, or the tropics and other areas like Indonesia, where youliterally open things up.”

The high-ceilinged Great Room has large retractable glasspocket doors that recess into its walls and allow the living spaceto extend to the Turkish travertine tiled länai, where the out-door furniture harmonizes nicely with the inside furnishings.Beyond the länai, palm trees sway gently against a blue sky andan infinity pool seems to drop off the edge of the world.

The Great Room is open to a more contemporary yet classydining area and kitchen. The project’s interior designer, GinaWillman, ASID, of W Interiors, says, “We tried to make it not somuch like a kitchen because it’s so open to the Great Room. Sowe dressed it up with the Bisazza glass tile backsplash.” Even theextractor hood over the oven, with its curves, looks rather like asculpture.

The kitchen’s cupboards are mahogany with a custom stain,and its countertops are Baltic brown granite. Dishwashers standconveniently on both sides of the sink, and a pot filler faucet sitsabove the Viking professional stove. A 27-inch armoire-styleSubZero refrigerator, with separate refrigerator drawers, standsnext to a matching 27-inch freezer and its freezer drawers.

Another highlight of the kitchen is its enormous 10’6”

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working island, which itself has more drawers and cupboardspace than one finds in some small homes. “Caterers go wild tohave all the working space,” says Knudson.

An additional and less formal dining area is tucked into acorner off the kitchen, where the glass walls recess back to openthe space to the courtyard and its lovely sound of tricklingwater. With the walls open, the dining area achieves a Japanesetea room effect—it’s as though the room floats on the pond.

Willman explains that she used a rather neutral palette forthe home’s interior colors and kept things interesting by usinglots of textures, such as in the wood and slats, in the fabric onthe chairs, and in the bronze vases for flower arrangements.There is also local texture in the tables of polished coconutshell as well as bamboo and wicker accents.

A faux finish on the walls by Joe Eby, a decorative painterfrom Omaha, adds additional interest. The wall treatment in

ABOVE: The master bedroom provides stun-ning views through the glass pocket doors.W Interiors created a dramatic headboardand covered the bed with an exquisite silkcoverlet. The rug was custom made of silkand wool.

RIGHT: A monolithic basalt tub from BellaPietra, floats in a bed of river rocks in themaster bathroom.

ABOVE: Looking into the master bed-room from the back yard shows thewide view that is created with thepocket doors.

RIGHT: The view from the homeacross the infinity edged pool andJacuzzi.

the office, developed by Eby specifically for this home, is amulti-layered finish of sandstone texture, paint and glaze hecalls “Coconut Husk.”

Throughout the house local Island artwork is displayed.A piece of kapa (traditional handmade bark cloth) by localartist Puanani Van Dorpe hangs on one wall. Other works,including pieces by Big Island artists Avi Kiriaty, HirokiMorinoue and others, also add a local flavor.

Visual drama shapes the master bedroom. On one wallhangs the unexpected “Vision-art,” a remote-controlledpainting that retracts into its frame to reveal a 42-inch plas-ma television screen. Glass walls pocket back to open twoadjoining walls and vastly extend the living area to a tiled

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länai, a soft, intimate breeze and a view of the spa with its soundof water trickling down into the infinity pool.

In the master bath, a dramatic, sculptural free-standing tubcarved from one piece of basalt is a stunning centerpiece. It sitson a bed of smooth black river rock, with floor drains concealedbelow to catch any overflow. And as in all the home’s showers, aglass door opens to a rock wall-enclosed, outdoor shower garden.Nicely landscaped with big stepping-stone tiles and an enormousrainshower head, it’s like showering in a friendly jungle.

There’s more: a detached guest house with king-sized bed,its own washer and dryer, wet bar, coffee bar and fridge, as wellas glass walls that open to the courtyard. Two other guest rooms

continue the sense of space, elegance and luxury.Knudson and Willman have equipped the turn-key home

down to the smallest detail. There are luggage racks, woodenhangers and beautiful Indonesian-style cotton robes hanging inthe closets, and even cotton swabs in the bathrooms and alu-minum foil and laundry detergent on the appropriate shelves.“You literally only need to buy food,” says Knudson.

The well-appointed luxury home is not anything thatPahinahina, the girl with the roasted breadfruit, would recog-nize. But she’d recognize the views of the volcano and theocean. The banana trees on its private länai and the coolbreezes. She’d recognize its feel of Hawai‘i.

ABOVE: An inviting grand lanai setting group.“Most of the people who buy these homes aremultiple homeowners,” Toni Knudson says.“It’s not just about giving them a home; it’screating that ultimate luxury lifestyle and thatinstant gratification.”

ABOVE: The central courtyard features a cus-tom bronze two toned water feature sculp-ture that can be seen and heard from manyinterior and exterior vantage points.

LEFT: Looking across the center courtyardkoi pond into the dining nook, gives one thesense the room is floating on the water.

“I think until you live here, youdon’t understand indoor/out-door living,” Knudson says. “I

think that’s really unique toHawai‘i, or the tropics and otherareas like Indonesia, where you

literally open things up.”