A new learning center at Honolulu's Punahou School opens tomorrow, named for the late Hawaiian scholar Mary Kawena Pukui — a feel-good moment for the school and for Hawaiian culture.

• The 53,000-square-foot Mary Kawena Pukui Learning Commons sits in the former Cooke Library on the Punahou campus.
• Pukui, who taught at Punahou from 1938 to 1941, worked to preserve the Hawaiian language and culture and helped seed the 1970s Hawaiian Renaissance.
• The center holds an archive of her writings and songs, still used in classrooms today.
• Beyond Hawaiian studies, it includes a design lab, computer science stations, a food-prep kitchen, and a video production studio.
• Every Punahou student now studies Hawaiian language in early grades and takes a Hawaiian history course.

Outlook: The commons opens to students tomorrow after a weekend preview for Pukui's family.