Habitat for Humanity is currently buildings its first-ever mass timber home — a structure made from pre-manufactured laminated wood panels that can be rapidly assembled. The home is designed by Hawai’i Off-Grid Architecture and Engineering using laminated timber construction for efficient shipping to Maui and quick on-site assembly. It features an energy-efficient design and affordable, sustainable materials for housing resilience.
Executive Director Matt Bachman said Habitat for Humanity first built a home on Komo Mai Street before the 2023 Maui wildfires for a veteran, who moved to the mainland after the fire destroyed the structure.
Now, the property will continue to benefit the community.
“We need[ed] to find a way to get volunteers to be able to come and stay here with us to help us rebuild, so we came up with the Bunkhouse,” Bachman said at a celebration event for the structure on Friday. “The Bunkhouse is a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house that will house volunteers in bunk beds for as long as we need them — that could be three years, could be five years — but whenever Lahaina says, ‘we're done,’ we're going to go ahead and sell it as affordable housing.”
David Sellers, Principal of Hawai’i Off-Grid and a member of Habitat for Humanity Maui's Board of Directors, led the design with support from WoodWorks.
"For the better part of two decades, we have consistently under-built, and that housing crisis is now undermining our ability to rebuild Lahaina with the speed our community deserves," said Sellers in a press release. "This mass timber bunkhouse is proof that recovery doesn't have to mean rebuilding the same way. We designed it as a system that can be prefabricated and deployed after disasters to build permanent buildings fast. Lahaina is where we prove it."
At Friday’s event, Mayor Richard Bissen also recognized the project’s workforce development opportunities in partnership with the Hawaiʻi Carpenters Union. More than 300 carpenter apprentices have received mass timber training through programs at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College, according to Maui County. That helps prepare local workers to be part of Lahaina's rebuilding and strengthen Maui’s homegrown construction workforce.
The Bunkhouse is expected to be completed in August. It will expand Habitat’s impact in Lahaina as volunteers continue to rebuild burned homes for local families.
