The big underdog in the race is the University of Hawaii — and they have been especially open in explaining their proposal to the public, realizing they have stiff competition in the contiguous United States. They have commissioned three designs for the library to help those looking over the proposals imagine how awesome a presidential library on the beach might be. And they want to make sure you know that they want to build the first ever presidential library on the BEACH.
“You can't beat waterfront land in Honolulu, with all due respect for the other cities,” Sen. Brian Schatz told the Associated Press.
The design above, by Allied Works Architecture, takes note of the palm trees that would surround the library.
The one below, by Snohetta/WCIT Architecture, reminds the presidential library committee that they could build a library next to a volcano -- albeit one that is inactive and which geologists think will probably never erupt again.
The third design, by MOS/WORKSHOP-HI, features cartoon people playing ukuleles.
None of the other presidential proposals have palm trees, volcanoes or cartoon people playing ukuleles.
Did they mention the ocean? No existing presidential library is near the ocean.
The Hawaii folks have a Web site that talks about all of the reasons there should be a presidential library on a beach, including the fact that they plan to host the sequel to Michelle Obama's White House vegetable garden as well as a leadership academy and several other offshoots that would make the library on the beach much more than just a library on the beach. It would be a presidential center on the beach.
Here are a bunch of people, many wearing Hawaiian shirts, talking about the specifics of the process.
However, their extensive plan does not include a video of people playing word association and saying "reading presidential papers!" when given the prompt, "beach."
The Obamas are supposed to announce their pick by March 2015, after which they will have to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build it.
Correction: This post initially referred to Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) as a House member.