On August 6, 2023, Lahaina, Maui experienced a devastating wildfire that claimed the lives of 102 people and left over 7,000 people homeless. The fire resulted from the confluence of climate change, environmentally insensitive development, poor stewardship of resources, and a lack of preparedness. This tragedy called for a considered and generous response that could serve as an example in responding to future disasters. Given the enormity of the loss, the limited labor force and material availability on-island an off-site construction solution made the most sense. In March of 2024, FEMA issued an RFP and by July, Liv-Connected was awarded the contract for which DXA provided architectural services.

The Lahaina Home was selected for the majority of housing for the Kilohana site. Purposeful in its dedication to well-being and to providing a dignified response to the trauma and loss of survivors, the Lahaina Home is a departure from the trailers that have been deployed post-disaster over the last several decades. Healing calls for a home, not a trailer, and the grouped site offered an opportunity to rebuild both homes and community. Each house has a porch that creates an interstitial zone between public and private life. The porches provide a connection to the landscape, a venue for civic engagement, a place to be seen, to visit, or to greet neighbors. As shelter is elevated to home, survivors are able to retake their places in the community.

FEMA set a challenging schedule for delivery of the houses commencing less than 4 months after the award was announced. This left Liv-Connected about two months of construction time subsequent to an expedited approval process with Maui County, and preceding a 2.5 week journey to the West Coast and across the Pacific. The team delivered 109 houses on time, turning each over to FEMA set in place, finished, and fully furnished one week after delivery.

The Lahaina Homes are adapted from Liv-Connected’s Conexus model, which provides a multitude of envelope cladding systems allowing them to reference local architecture and cultural history. For Kilohana, Liv-Connected used board & batten with brightly colored facades that echo the historic storefronts of Front Street, which was lost to the fire.

Families began moving in days before Thanksgiving following a beautiful blessing ceremony with a local kahuna pule and Hawaii Governor Josh Green. The FEMA team noted that this was one of their most successful projects and was the “future” of disaster response. They initiated conversations about replicating it in the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Southern California.

Conexus Homes are factory-built. This increases quality and significantly reduces cost and waste compared to conventional construction. The homes are inherently suited to disaster response but also provide a promising solution to the housing crisis prevalent on Maui and elsewhere in the United States as they could bring home ownership within reach for the nearly 70 percent of the population unable to afford home ownership.