Learning Commons

The K – 12 Learning Commons are critical to the full realization of Punahou’s instructional philosophy, which must equip students to succeed in, and improve, a changing world. With the recent completion of the Junior School Learning Commons in Kosasa Community, students have access to innovative spaces and resources – technological, creative and human – to transform their questions into meaningful work that addresses authentic challenges and audiences. Students and teachers from different grades and disciplines gather and collaborate in purposeful learning. 

The Junior School Learning Commons in Kosasa Community includes:

5 Engineering and Design Labs

6,000 Books
7 Music and Art Studios

0 Carbon Footprint

“We need to teach our kids the skills that machines can’t do. How to be creative, how to be great innovators of ideas.” 

Steve Case ’76

Education today is at a crossroads

Our children face an unpredictable and fluid future of great challenge and greater possibility. Hear from five trailblazing alumni who have found success on its frontiers, and learn how Punahou is pioneering a new approach to 21st-century education. 


D. Kenneth Richardson ’48 Learning Lab

The brand-new D. Kenneth Richardson ’48 Learning Lab in the Mamiya Science Center is a design and fabrication lab where students of all ages have access to high-tech equipment, enabling them to create rapid prototypes of their designs as part of the design thinking process. Watch this video for a peek at this innovative new space.