Nancy Peacock is an architect and interior designer based in Honolulu. Born and raised on O‘ahu, Peacock attended Punahou School, graduating in 1972. She then studied at Cornell University, where she received a Bachelor’s of Architecture degree before becoming a licensed architect in the State of Hawai‘i. She spent time working under Norman Lacayo, Architect, from 1978 to 1981, as well as Ossipoff, Snyder, Rowland, and Goetz Architects from 1981 to 1982. In 1982, Peacock opened her own firm Nancy Peacock, AIA Inc., which she has served as owner and president of for over thirty years.

Peacock’s expertise has contributed to numerous committees, boards, and organizations over the last thirty years. She has been appointed to the Historic Places Review Board three times, responsible for reviewing and decision-making processes involving the designation of properties into the State Register of Historic Places. She has also served on the Hawai‘i Opera Theater Board (2009-2014) and the Board of the Friends of Hawai‘i State Art Museum (2013-2017). Peacock is an active member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), where she has served on several committees.

Peacock has had her success in designing homes for wealthy property owners in Hawai‘i. Her homes were featured in various magazines and news articles, often valued in the millions. In 1998, she won an AIA Design Award of Merit for a Lanikai Residence she built for a celebrity couple. The home was highly regarded for its historical likeness to 1920s beach-houses that were popular in Lanikai. Four years later, she received the first AIA sustainability award for a residence built in Manoa in 2002. That house was built around a one-hundred-year-old monkeypod tree, which served as the starting point of the design. The home cut down on energy costs, utilizing solar water heating, gas appliances and eliminating the need for air-conditioning using O‘ahu’s persistent tradewinds. Peacock also ensured the use of recycled rainwater for irrigation purposes. The house also won her an AIA design award of excellence. Both the Lanikai and Manoa homes were featured in local and national newspapers in architecture and business.

Peacock also has a devout interest in travelling, exploring the architecture, culture, and histories of countries she visits. She has given travelling, shopping, and furnishing tips for magazines and newspapers, providing an aesthetic, yet environment-friendly perspective. She emphasizes that simplifying life, whether when travelling, decorating, or shopping, can go a long way to enhance life. Peacock embodies this style in her own architecture and design. Her homes often reflect an attempt to embrace their original styles, grounded in vintage designs, textures, and colors. Simplicity is at the heart of her work, maintaining historical integrity and not overwhelming the land. She tries to center her creations around upholding “Hawaiian roots,” focusing on the natural and casual aspects of “island life.”

-- Bio by Chase Benbow, October 2019