Francis Sinenci revived the Hawaiian thatched house, hale by hale

By the time Francis P. Sinenci was asked to build a traditional Hawaiian house in 1994, there was no practitioner left to learn from. So he taught himself, and went on to reclaim the art of the hale, the thatched Hawaiian house. In 2022 the National Endowment for the Arts named him a National Heritage Fellow, for the art of Hawaiian hale building, and he is known as Kumu Palani.

Francis P. Sinenci, Master Hawaiian Hale Builder. Image from the NEA's page.

From Hāna to the Air Force and back

Sinenci was born and raised in Hāna, Maui, a village known for its cultural heritage and natural beauty. As a boy he gathered food, fished, learned from elders and spent time with his 'ohana (family) in the mountains, valleys and coasts of the island. After high school he wanted to see the world beyond his rural home, and he spent nearly 30 years in the military, mostly the U.S. Air Force, where he reached the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. In 1967 he married Esmenia ("Esse"), who is from O'ahu.

In the early 1990s they moved back to Hawai'i, and that move launched a second career: reviving kūkulu hale (traditional Hawaiian architecture) and uhau humu pōhaku (masonry).

A building that had nearly vanished

Hale are thatched structures that evolved over millennia in harmony with Hawai'i's landscapes. There are many types, from fully covered sleeping houses to open-walled multipurpose buildings to A-frame canoe sheds. After Western contact, a period of cultural degradation brought modern buildings in their place, and hale survived mostly in old black-and-white photographs and in movies as "grass shacks."

In 1994 Sinenci was asked to build a hale at Helemano Elementary School. No practitioners were left to learn from, so he talked to anthropologist Rudy Mitchell, read through archaeological records, including Dr. Russell Apple's 1971 Hawaiian Thatched House, and studied the hale preserved at Honolulu's Bishop Museum. He learned by doing, combining research with inherited ancestral knowledge.

A thatched roof, from the NEA's work samples.

What he built and taught

• In the mid-1990s he formed a partnership with cultural advocate Coila Eade to build Kauhale O Hāna, a traditional village compound. They later created Hōlani Hāna, a five-acre cultural park that became a training ground for practitioners and a place for indigenous gatherings and community events.
• In the late 1990s he and a crew of local masons restored Pi'ilani Hale, Hawai'i's largest stone structure, which is of deep cultural and spiritual importance.
• Over 26 years he has trained a new generation of builders, constructed countless hale, restored heiau in communities across Hawai'i, spearheaded the Indigenous Architecture Building Code and piloted a hale builder certification program. He also founded a traditional school, Hālau Hale Kuhikuhi, and holds the title Kuhikuhi Pu'uone, Master Indigenous Architect.

The NEA's profile of Sinenci was written by Kauwila Hanchett, executive director of Hōlani Hāna.

A thatched roof structure from Sinenci's work. Image from the NEA's page.

Sources

• National Endowment for the Arts, Francis P. Sinenci, National Heritage Fellowships, profile by Kauwila Hanchett; rewritten in hubnx's own words.