Cedric Firth, perfectly preserved

One of the real gems in our upcoming issue is the Wellington home of architects Alistair Luke and Sharon Jansen and their two daughters. It was designed in 1958 by Cedric Firth and has remained blissfully untouched since. In fact, the previous owner only decided to sell the home to Alistair and Sharon because unlike many other potential buyers, they felt it should remain just as it is - which is to say, almost perfect.

Paul McCredie took these excellent photographs. In this one, the girls sit on the front deck:


Here's a view through the living room to the entry atrium and the stairs leading to the upper level. Note the beautiful built-in furniture, which includes a stereo connecting to built-in speakers in the living room, dining room and kitchen (yes, in 1958). The buddha head sculpture at right is by Miriam van Wezel.

This photo shows the view through the northwest-facing living room to the dining room.

And here's the entry atrium. The blue chair is by the Danish firm France and Daverkosen and was purchased for the home by its original owners. The artwork at far left is by John Pule, while the work further up the stairs is by Reihana MacDonald. The paper lamp is by Isamu Noguchi.

Cedric Firth was in partnership with Ernst Plischke from 1948-1958, but this house (which was originally commissioned by Ian and Gladys McKenzie) is attributed to Firth alone. We talked to Alistair Luke and asked him to contextualise Firth's work for us. Here's what he had to say:

HOME New Zealand: Who was Cedric Firth, and what makes him an important New Zealand architect?

Alistair Luke: Cedric Firth was an intellectual and socially minded architect, he was also a prolific writer. His primary cause was to deliver affordable architecture to all rather than an elite few. In 1947 he worked for the UN in their housing department. His importance in New Zealand architecture resides in his passion for the “International Style”, something he pursued throughout his career. This was a philoshopical cause rather than a fashionable affectation and he shared it with his practicing partner, from 1948 to 1958, Ernst Plischke. In many ways - though controversial at the time - Plischke Firth introduced New Zealand to this style and demonstrated how it could work within our context.

What are Firth's best-known buildings?

With Plischke, Firth worked on Massey House in Wellington's Lambton Quay and on St Mary’s Church in Taihape. Amongst others, his own projects include his own house, the Ward House, the Vance House and the McKenzie House. He also was the architect for the Memorial to Sir Peter Buck, Urenui. His master work is the Monro Building in Nelson.

He was dedicated to bringing some of the International Style to New Zealand – how well did that style fit the context of the New Zealand sites he worked on?

Firth was very much a contextual architect in that he designed houses and buildings that respond directly to their sites. The stylist overlay, which was an intellectual pursuit, advocated this and fit with his care for the fundamentals of orientation to sun, protection from wind, fit wth contour and the amenties of living. His (and Plischke's) houses contrasted dramatically with their neighbours but that was intentional.

Which parts of your house do you like best?

The serenity - we are surrounded by bush and our house extends well beyond it's physical boundaries with floor to ceiling glass. The built-in furniture is a joy too - very much a part of the philosophy of its style - it is extremely well designed and we have much more storage than we can usefully use.

What attracted you to your place in the first instance?
The spaciousness, the natural light and sun, the built-in cabinets and furniture, the bush setting... but mostly we straight away realised that it was a very clever design perfectly attuned to its setting and extremely cool to boot.

How difficult is it for two architects – in this case you and your partner, Sharon Jansen – to live in a house and not meddle with it?
Before we put in our purchase proposal we revisited the house several times and played around with the plans to see how it might be improved. We quickly realised that it was pretty well perfect just the way it is and that alterations and/or addditions would only be ruinous to its essential character. Living in it for the last four years has borne that out and neither of us is tempted to fiddle. We are instead content to restore its more tired aspects back to their original glory.

If you were to design your own home, what lessons would you take from this one?
Perversely, perhaps, we really enjoy the separation of the kitchen from the living and dining area. The kitchen has two built-in tables - one with a banquet seat, the other used to be for sewing (now used for the computer) - and so it functions like a family room as we can all comfortably, and often do, occupy it at the same time. The other feature we'd repeat (actually replicate in every detail) is the tiny TV room, separating that function from everything else. So, I guess, the big lesson would be that open plan living would no longer be the design route for us.

Worth seeing

On now at Auckland's Jensen Gallery is 'Naked', a show we highly recommend.
It features work by Marina Abramovic (her video, 'Nude with Skeleton' is in the image below, along with Winston Roeth's 'From this Moment on"), Tracey Emin, Jude Rae, Robert Mapplethorpe, Louise Bourgeois, Man Ray, and more. All of it a fascinating meditation on the human body and much more. You can see more images at the link below, but if you're in Auckland, all the works are much better in the flesh...

http://www.jensengallery.com/exhibition/

Design Awards 2010 - Behind the Scenes

Our June/July issue - which will be on newsstands on June 7 - features our annual furniture Design Awards. We were delighted with the individuality and all-round pizzazz of this year's finalists, and can't wait to show them to you in the magazine (where you'll also be able to find out who the Design Awards 2010 winner is).

For this year's Design Awards shoot, we had all the finalist pieces shipped to Auckland and photographed at the Union Fish Company building in the Britomart area, where the rough concrete floors and exposed brick walls made a fine backdrop for the very polished entries. Our stylists Tanya Wong and Jessica Allen worked with photographer Toaki Okano and his assistant Lorna to photograph the pieces.

Here's Toaki behind the camera, with Jess and Lorna setting up a group shot of the finalists (Tanya took these pics). In this shot, you can see Jamie McLellan's yellow 'Flyover' table, Andy Irving's 'Matchstick' stools (at left), Nathan Goldsworthy's 'Historian' bookshelves, Stephanie Donald's white 'Tangent' coffee table, and Sam Lennon's red 'Inverted Cube' coffee table:

And here's Toaki again, this time photographing Tim Wigmore's 'Pil' light:

The chair in the image below is the 'Starling' by Cameron Foggo:

Here's Toaki in a lighter moment:

And some more of the finalist objects, waiting for their close-ups. The pink 'Hostess' table at right is by Katy Wallace, and is made of pieces of junk-shop furniture. Beside it, the blue 'Table/Cloth' table is by Juliette Wanty.

The Design Awards 2010 winner was chosen by designer Humphrey Ikin and Michael Lett (of the eponymous Auckland gallery). Remember to watch out for full award coverage in our June/July issue - we just sent the final pages to the printer yesterday, so it won't be long until it hits the shelves.

Mountain Landing sketches

Posting the previous item made us think this was also a good opportunity to publish some of Pip Cheshire's early sketches of the house at Mountain Landing. You can see from these why, in the era of the digital rendering, a good drawing still has an unbeatable allure.

Cheshire Architects at Northland's Mountain Landing

A sneak preview from our June/July issue, which will be on newsstands on June 7. In it, Pip Cheshire, the designer of this lodge/getaway at Mountain Landing in the Bay of Islands, ponders the question of bigness in residential architecture, and the consequent fear of botching a beautiful landscape with an architectural intervention. Here's an image of the lodge he designed, photographed by Patrick Reynolds - as you can see, the landscape around it is extraordinary and, in our opinion, the house is a suitably strong but respectful presence in it:


Mountain Landing is a private subdivision at the northern end of the Bay of Islands. Once a run-down farm, the developers have invested heavily in the creation of wetlands and vast new planted areas. This is a view of the house from down at the bay - it's one of the first homes to be built in the development.

And here's a view of the bay from the home's terrace:

In the magazine, we ask Pip if the prospect of building on such an amazing site was intimidating.

"Yes," he says. "The nervousness here stems from two aspects, that I might stuff up a great opportunity and a nice paddock and, more importantly, that the site is so loaded - high landscape and heritage values - that the building couldn’t blink, it needed to be strong without dominating."

We also asked about his decision to adopt a very different strategy from "touching the earth lightly", Glenn Murcutt's famous architectural dictum.

"I think that Murcutt line of touching the earth lightly is great and certainly fits Australia’s history and landscape," Pip says, "but we are a land of major earthworks, of trenches, palisades and ramparts. It's not a universal: I have some lighter projects but where its a big project, a big brief, then I guess I would usually dig in if there was some sort of slope."

You can read the full Q+A with Pip and the story he's written about the property in our next issue (it isn't often that architects are also authors - in Pip's case, his recent book Architecture Uncooked - so we took the opportunity to commission him to write about his own project for this issue). Keep an eye out for it on newsstands soon.

Marshall Cook's Gold Medal

Congratulations to architect Marshall Cook, who has been awarded the NZ Institute of Architects' Gold Medal for 2010, given to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the practice of architecture. You may remember Marshall's own house in Auckland's Freemans Bay as a finalist in HOME New Zealand's 2008 Home of the Year award.

His awards citation made special mention of his house designs:

"The whole body of his work is characterised by a complete and exhaustive knowledge of materials, technology, colour and space placed at the service of a liberal, generous and humane design philosophy. The result has been a series of houses of the first quality. They form memorable and delightful environments within which domestic life in all its aspects is both celebrated and nourished. These houses represent high-water marks of contemporary New Zealand domestic architecture which will continue to be valued and studied by their future inhabitants and by architects."

These photographs of Marshall's own home in Freemans Bay were taken by Patrick Reynolds. This shot shows the confident mixing of materials - terracotta tiles, marble, timber fins - facing the street.

Inside, the house centres around an exceptionally comfortable kitchen and dining area that opens onto a small courtyard. This whole area feels remarkably spacious, especially when you consider that the home has been designed for a relatively compact inner-city site.

At the end of this bright, open space is much more snug and secluded living room. The stairs at the rear of this shot lead to Marshall and Prue's bedroom. All of it feels deceptively casual, but as with all apparently effortless structures, a great deal of consideration has gone into the creation of each of these spaces.

Charles Renfro on The Nation

Our visiting guest star Charles Renfro of New York's Diller, Scofidio + Renfro was interviewed by TV3's The Nation when he was here recently (thanks again to First Windows & Doors, who made Charles' visit and his Auckland and Wellington lectures possible). The TV piece is at the link below.

Visiting New York architect Charles Renfro

Also, DS+R's latest work at New York's Lincoln Center was reviewed in the New York Times this weekend by Nicolai Ouroussoff. This is the second stage of the redesign of the Center DS+R are leading, part of what will be a billion-dollar redesign. Ouroussoff seems less pleased with the firm's work on this stage than he was with their earlier redesign of the Center's Alice Tully Hall, though there is high praise for the new structure DS+R have inserted at the Center, with a sweeping grass roof from which to overlook the plaza, as you can see in this image by Beatrice de Gea for the New York Times.



Here's the link to the New York Times slide show; you can also click through to the accompanying article.

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/20/arts/design/20100521-lincoln-slideshow.html

Cleanliness Standards Revised

"U.S. consumers spend nearly $1 billion a year on antibacterial products that aren't necessary" according to Mother Nature Network.

In our increasingly germa-phobic society (where people go around carrying Purell on their key chains), we are pounded by advertisement for disposable products promising a cleaner, thus healthier life: Tissues, bottled water, antibacterial wipes and the latest… Kleenex's Disposable Hand Towel (!?).

For such products to make it on the market in 2010, proving that some manufacturers are either clueless about their role/impact on the environment or simply ignoring it for the sake of their wallets, is one thing, but perpetually preying on our primal fear of getting sick and misleading us with bogus information is another (one of the reasons why I do not miss TV).

"Regular washing of bathroom hand towels does not ensure clean hands." Kleenex says...

With absurd quotes like this one, coming from (or shall I say, sponsored by) an industry leader, no wonder why our society has trouble letting go of the disposables... we have come to believe that a higher standard of cleanliness would make us healthier.
The cleaner, the better...
But have we reached the point where we're too clean for our own good?

It is apparent that since disposability has hit the market and entered our homes, our standards of cleanliness have gone extreme. Sadly, living up to these made up standards and fitting "socially acceptable cleanliness" are costing us our health (killing the good germs) and that of our planet (depletion of resources through production and pollution through disposal).

Finding the right balance between squeaky clean and hygienic seems to be in order.

We have been steered away from reusable products, and led to think that these were somehow gross, so here are 10 standards, revised for TheZeroWasteHome:

It's OK to:

1. Actually, it's not just OK, it's a must...: Switch from your antibacterial products to natural soap (Don't breed the "superbug").
2. Wear clothes more than once: I admit, it took me a few months to get used to it. Your clothes should not make you self conscious if they have stains or smell, so use your sense of smell to guide you if you're stain free.
3. Wash your hair every other day: a little cornstarch can serve as a dry shampoo (sprinkle on your hair, massage in, and brush out) between washes.
4. Let it mellow, if it's yellow: I confess, I do not let it mellow and flush when I have people coming over.
5. Blow your nose in a handkerchief: tissues are only a recent invention, people lived without them before us. And remember, a hankie being a personal item it is used only for you, so they're your own germs.
6. Use the Diva Cup: Get over your skepticism and fear of the cup; if you can insert a tampon, you can insert the cup.
7. Hold off on your weekly sheet washing: If you went to college, you know your immune system survived less frequent washes. In Europe, people air out their sheets between washes. The word "sanitizing" is actually synonym of "airing out", in french crosswords.
8. Use and reuse a cloth napkin between washes: We use napkin rings to tell ours apart: so simple and yet, it helps us go longer between washes (once a week).
9. Clean your house with vinegar, castille soap, baking soda and reusable cloths (instead of Comet, 409, Windex, Dawn, Scrubbing Bubbles, Tilex, Lysol, bleach, etc...): Seriously, that's all you need to keep your house clean.
10. Accept a stain on the kitchen towel that you just washed: Stop fighting stains on items that are meant to be stained. Kitchen towels don't have to be spotless.

I have to say that I used to be obsessed with the whiteness of my kitchen towels, worried that my cleanliness would be judged by their spotlessness. I then realized that the impact of repeat washes and bleach, were not worth it, and that my time would be better spent elsewhere.

By lowering our modern squeaky clean standards, we can refocus on what matters most... spending time with our loved ones, cooking healthy food, or lending a hand to save the Earth.

Note to Kleenex: In a house where none of your disposable hand towels are to be found, we've amazingly survived yet another winter, free of colds...

Outside the Box

Now that you have evaluated your waste all the way down to the dark bottom of your medicine box, let's take a look outside the box, outside the house...

From some readers' comments, I take it that the title of this blog might lead some to believe that a "zero waste home" advocate cares only about his or her own trash can:

Anonymous, for example, wrote: "With all due respect, I feel strongly that we all have the responsibility to look outside of our homes as well at all of the places we can make a greater impact, by working together, by writing letters to our elected officials, by working with colleagues to make our places of work and learning more green."

I agree that we all have the responsibility to do more... and while my posts are mostly based on practical tips to reduce one's household waste, it does not mean that the broader community issues are being ignored.

Here are some of the things that we do outside of the home, for those concerned about our broader efforts:

• I write weekly email/letters to manufacturers worthy of constructive feedback, urging them to push their sustainability further. For example, I have written letters to find alternatives to the plastic seal on the returnable yogurt glass jar (St Benoit), to offer their products in bulk (Seventh Generation), to switch from a recyclable to a reusable cap (flip tops caps at Straus Creamery)...and encourage others to do the same.

• I also suggest changes in products that I used to love and now miss. For example, I loved Oil of Olay eye lifting serum, but the packaging was a joke and the ingredients were toxic. Here is a past letter to them:
  "Re: Regenerist eye lifting serum: Such a great product, one that I am addicted to, but one that also really stands out in my Zero Waste Home. Isn't it time that Oil of Olay found an alternative to parabens and excessive packaging for their products? You are a leader in affordable skin care that works, I think it's about time that you became more environmentally friendly...To the many people who care, shopping is voting. On my future election (shopping trip), I will vote for an environmentally friendly product, but I'll miss you. Sincerely, Bea."

• I sometimes send something in the mail with an explanatory letter (Don't tell Scott... he most likely would not approve the mailing expenses, that are not in our budget): Plastic corks back to Barefoot (good and affordable local wine, but bad corking choice), half toothbrushes back to Radius (the disposable, unrecyclable, unsustainable half), a free and unnecessary contact lens case (came in with the lens cleaner), etc…

• Scott and I both participate in Credo Action Campaigns (one stop shop for busy activists) which sometimes includes signing a petition or writing/calling an elected official (made easy by simply following a link in Credo's emails).

• I joined Sustainable Mill Valley, whose purpose it is to promote "the adoption and implementation of public policies that reflect sustainability principles". I serve on the waste committee of course. Last month, our meeting included both our local waste hauler and city's sustainability coordinator, with whom we discussed better waste solutions for our town.

• I participate in our town's sustainability discussions: in February, we had a Climate Action Plan meeting.

• Scott is on our elementary school site council, and I recently participated in a PTA discussion panel on "Ways to Make our School Greener" which raised school waste concerns.

• We participate in trash pick-up events as a family such as Coastal Clean Up (where we find the oddest, indescribable items floating about), Polk Street Neighborhood Association Street Clean Up in San Francisco (where my 73-year-old mother-in-law, visiting from Texas, bravely joined in, and where I found out that smokers desperately need quitting at best, or public ashtrays at least, picture above), and Earth Day pick up (where I filled my 20 gallon reusable bag within 10 minutes at our local baseball field).

• We make a point of "leaving the place cleaner than we found it" (If scouting taught me one thing that would be it). Pick up as you go, whether camping, hiking, beach going or simply walking the dog.

• Lastly, we were both inspired to make career changes: I am focused on changing one house at a time with BeSimpler, helping people to live more simply and to move towards zero waste; and, Scott is focused on changing one business at a time, launching his company, FairRidge Group, to address broader social and environmental issues (he spoke at Opportunity Green last fall). We don't know yet if these were the right financial decisions for us – but it is an exciting time to be trying to find out (can you say "Great Recession").

Could we do more? Of course we could! If we did not have two fun boys, a needy dog, a yard in progress and the great outdoors to enjoy. But frankly, we are satisfied with the amount that we manage to contribute and balance in our jobs, activities, and home (we only have so many hours in a day). We are now at least relieved from action paralysis that once afflicted us.

Because while environmentalists debate the importance of individual vs. collective action, we agree with Colin Beavan that, "We cannot wait for the system to change, we individuals are the system", and that actions speak louder than words.

How do you walk your talk?

What about meds?

People who visit our house feel like they've hit the jackpot when they see our "pharmacy" container: "Ah, ah! Do I spot packaging over here?" they ask teasing.

Medications have been hard to eliminate of course, but we've found ways to reduce our packaging here too. In the process, we went thru some trial and error. One of them was finding natural medication in bulk at Good Earth, where you fill your jar and pay by the ounce for decongestant, flu relief or echinacea. Besides the fact that these were really expensive, they did not even work! Well, at least not as well as the regular drugstore stuff.

Since then, we have found a balance between natural alternatives and drugstore products. Here again, it's all about paring it down to essentials (you knew I was going to write that). Sincerely, is there a point in keeping medications that do not work or are expired?

Every family has different medical needs, but here is what we did in our home:

• We took expired meds to our pharmacy
• We now keep only a minimal supply
• There is no way around the occasional plastic prescription bottle and it's illegal for pharmacies to refill them in CA, but our pharmacy takes them back to recycle them (#2). I figure they have a better chance of getting those recycled than we do thru our household recycling.
• We choose tablets (pain reliever, for example) in a glass or at default a plastic jar (usually a recyclable #2), instead of the tablets individually wrapped in aluminum/plastic and then a box (that's what I call obnoxious packaging).
• Although they are cheaper by the count, we do not buy jumbo size medication jars, they expire way before we can finish them.
• We choose metal tubes instead of plastic (Arnicare is magic on bruises)
• We invested in a Neti pot (Santa gave one to Scott this year, picture above): Great to clear out your sinuses with just water and sea salt.
• We researched and tested a few natural alternatives: I forage Yerba Santa in the winter for its decongestant properties (tea), but many plants are available in bulk at health food stores also. For example, you can make a corn silk tea for prostate relief, a senna leaf tea for constipation relief or an oatmeal bath for skin relief. By the way, you can also roll a fresh California bay leaf in your nose to relieve a headache – I agree, it's a great look:) or eat a small amount of local honey each day to relieve allergies. I also found this cough suppressant recipe (all ingredients available in bulk), but we have yet to try it (Knock on wood that we won't need it for a while): 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1 T honey, 1 T apple cider vinegar, 2 T water mixed in small sterilized jar.
• Instead of plastic band-aids, gauze and surgical tape work fine. We use hydrogen peroxide as an antiseptic on small scrapes and cuts before we let them air dry or apply surgical tape directly on deeper cuts. How often do you really need a band-aid? My son thinks that band-aids are a cure to any "owie"... but a smoothie works just as well. Update: Per a nurse's email: "Hydrogen peroxide is not recommended on wounds anymore. It may (with reservations) be diluted and used to clean, initially a very dirty wound but is actually damaging to healthy tissue. Tea tree oil or honey products are a natural antimicrobial alternative". Old fashioned Lugol's iodine has also been mentioned on the forum.
• We do not use everyday antibacterial products, most contain Triclosan, and only make bad bacteria stronger. As Mayo clinic warns: "Antibacterial soap is no more effective at killing germs than is regular soap. Using antibacterial soap may even lead to the development of bacteria that are resistant to the product's antimicrobial agents — making it harder to kill these germs in the future."
• To answer a question from a couple of readers, we do not take vitamins. Like Michael Pollan (in his book, "In Defense of Food"), we believe in a varied diet instead... but I did take them while pregnant and we might reconsider them when we're older.
• We believe in moderate sunscreen use (we worry about skin cancer as much as vitamin D deficiency). I do use it on my face everyday, for vanity reasons;), but we use clothing as sun-shield as much as we can (the rays penetrates it in a small percentage), and use sunscreen for prolonged exposures on our bodies. When we're out of my favorite, we'll give this recipe a try. I just have to find zinc oxide in bulk...

Do you have some natural remedies (that work) to share?