Too enormous to ignore, Tripler hospital is as immediately recognizable to residents of Oahu as Diamond Head. Its unmistakable pink mass of reinforced concrete commands Halawa Heights' broad ridgeline. Four-story wings angle off to both sides of the nine-story central administration unit. Two additional shallow, V-shaped wings are sited farther down the sloping, 360-acre parcel and connected to the main body by elevated breezeways, now mostly enclosed. Although the complex is markedly simple in detail, the New York City–based architects claimed they tried to avoid an institutional appearance. However, the enclosing of almost all the makai side's once open lanai and a more recent addition on the mauka side impart an ascetic, if not antiseptic, impression.