Teppy Mountain Retreat Center

Papaikou near Hilo, Hawaii

Hawaii Island Architects, LLC: Roger Brasel, AIA, NCARB

Lowney Contracting Company, Inc., Kamuela, HI: Lucas Ruppel, Project Manager

'Olelo Ho'omana'o Hawai'i (Hawaiian Reverie)
4 sides at approx. 50.0' w by 3.5' h


The Teppy Mountain Retreat Center’s Great Room will feature an encircling frieze of “mirror-lit” stained glass called Olelo Ho’omana’o Hawai’i (Hawaiian Reverie). The perspective rendering shown here includes “place holder” imagery for the stained glass which is now in its preliminary design phase.

Rather than obscure the Great Room’s jaw-dropping views through its conventional windows, Olelo Ho’omana’o Hawai’i’s  stained glass will be mounted on the bulkhead separating the Great Room’s second level from its upper clerestory. In lieu of natural daylight, the stained glass will be illuminated by mirror. Here’s how:

Mirror will reflect ambient light back out through the stained glass as seen in the “Arizona Arroyo” installation. Since the mirror will be recessed several inches behind the stained glass, reflections will interact with the actual stained glass in ever-shifting overlaps as viewers move throughout the Great Room. Olelo Ho’omana’o Hawai’i will remain illuminated, even in the evening – as long as the Great Room’s interior lighting is bright enough to read a magazine, there will be plenty of light to animate its stained glass.

Completion of ” Olelo Ho’omana’o Hawai’i (Hawaiian Reverie”) is slated for 2029.


Materials: European mouthblown glass, lead, recessed mirror.