A blessing will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday in Keaukaha for the latest home built by Hawaii Community College students under a program that provides housing for Hawaiian homesteaders.
This was the 46th home built under the Model Home Project, a collaboration between HCC and the state Department of Hawaiian Homelands.
The homes are built on unassigned DHHL lots and the agency selects the homeowner.
Hawaii Community College carpentry instructor Darryl Vierra (right) oversees work done on the model home. HCC photo.
The house built during the 2012-2013 school year is located on Pakele Lane, which is also the site of last year’s and next year’s homes.
This year’s project will cost the homesteader $186,000 and has 1,822 square feet with three bedrooms and two baths. It also has solar water heating and an 18-panel photovoltaic array.
The homes are custom-built, right down to the kitchen cabinets and window frames, HCC spokesman Thatcher Moats said.
The home is designed by students in the architectural, engineering and computer-aided-design (CAD) technologies program; lot-clearing is handled by those in the diesel mechanics program; and carpentry students do the construction.
Last year’s model home can be seen through an unfinished doorway of this year’s house. HCC photo.
Students in the electrical technology program wire the home, including installing the solar system, and agriculture students landscape the property.
Moats said HCC is the only college in the state where students build a real home as part of their coursework.
Earlier this year, accreditors from the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges praised the Model Home Project for being innovative, interdisciplinary and for its new focus on green technologies and sustainability.
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