our design process

James:- Our design process has involved much research, plenty of imagination, probably too much discussion and thousands of dollars. The final submitted plan is a highly tailored version of our first scribble that we can (hopefully) afford to build; will satisfy the building inspector and retain as much of our original thoughts as possible. We have avoided an architect, but worked very closely with a wonderfully patient draughtsman; have had to pay for engineering expertise (as i believe everyone does in NZ for seismic, wind and snow loading calculations.); employed a great little consultancy to oversee both the strawbale and the clay plaster systems; paid for thermal modelling and throughout the whole process involved Greg, our cornerstone who has been brave enough to take on not just this project but us as well!

In retrospect would i change anything.....................perhaps not going down every avenue that i did to build, in my mind, the perfect house. I could have pick 'my battles' a bit more carefully and possibly saved a few thousand; but on the whole i feel my pig headedness will have paid off. The major battles i lost:- an affordable masonry stove with a wetback (long story that one!) and rubble trench foundations (involvement of US engineers, seismic loading issues, i'll let someone else pay for that first through the councils!).

Where did we start.........i wanted to incorporate a castle turret, a mongolian ger and a medieval gallery. Nicky wanted a pantry and a toilet separate from the bathroom. We both wanted an open plan kitchen/eating area with an 'island' as opposed to worktops around the edge. Rudolf Steiner apparently thought that children should have compact sleeping areas but big communal play area, so that sounded good. We chucked in a bit of Feng Shui; incorporated passive solar heating design; kept the house dimensions to loosely fit the 'golden ratio'; utilised some classic natural build recommendations; rattled on about 'Passive Haus' and then repeatedly had to tear the design apart and reconstruct it to satisfy everyone else's requirements!

My thoughts on the process:- Nicky attending a BBE (Building Biology and Ecology) 'design your own eco-house' course was invaluable. EBANZ conferences/house tours were educational. The cost of the design being thermally modelled was offset by the reduction in the glazing area as a result. My bloody-mindedness has retained much of our original ethical rationale; such as no treated timber (i'm only mentioning this because if you stick to your guns, continually ask 'WHY?' and talk through even the craziest ideas, a lot is achievable). Employing experts for crucial elements might seem expensive initially but when the xxxx hits the fan, they're worth their weight in gold.

Talk to everybody you can. Raid the library of all its architecture/building/design books, especially ones with loads of photos. Immerse yourself in information if that's your thing (i tend to). Take photos of anything and everything. Invite yourself round to other peoples houses if they have used similar materials/techniques, the same tradesmen. Bore friends and family with you plans; it's amazing how i've overlooked the most obvious design fault to them. Listen to people when they say that 'it's too expensive'; i'm learning they're often right! Walk around new housing estates, old areas of cities, gold mining townships, docklands, museums; it's amazing where ideas can come from.

I've bored you all enough; i'm outa here

A natural building?

James:- ' Our challenge has been how to construct a relatively toxin free, strawbale and timber dwelling with clay and lime wall plasters and a clay floor within our budget and within the planning framework. The ethos was always to spend time on the research/design phase so that our final plans might be of help to others wishing to follow a natural building path through the present consents system. Thats not to say that we are turning our back on all modern building materials or techniques; it's just that we think certain unadulerated natural materials, and their respective well proven applications, have a place alongside certain synthetic materials in a modern house.

However, there are still areas that are causing us to reconsider constantly; as to whether we should use natural or synthetic. Insulation and foundations design are good examples . Forums are full of the pros and cons of the range of products available so won't go down that path. But here are a few thoughts:-what if certain companies have achieved the evironmental standard ISO 14001 for their whole production process and their product satisfies our most important requirements yet it is synthetic? How natural is natural..................what if a 'natural product' includes synthetics too or a company hasn't achieved ISO 14001?

Should sub-slab insulation in central Otago be no more than dry earth (apparently a very poor conductor of heat) , or possibly the ultimate in XPS poly..........or even wine bottles on their sides?

How far should one follow their preferred foundation design of, for instance, a rubble trench (a natural building 'must-have') through the buidling regs; considering the seismic issues involved, the potential cost of finding supporting expertise outside of NZ; should that energy be spent on investigating the potential of crushed glass aggregate or fibreglass rebars within a bog standard concrete footing? Or neither?

Is ridding a house of treated timber, through very careful design, really worth the the time expended on it? Or should time have been spent on researching 'untreated' aussie hardwood poles, that I now find to be treated with 'Dieldrin' prior to being imported to NZ many years ago? (Google it..........its pretty potent stuff.)

I could continue for hours along similar lines but i just wanted to share a few conumdrums i've experienced.

Over and out

to post or not to post

James:- 'My ideas for this blog are to keep both friends and family as well as other interested parties informed of our progress (or seemingly lack of it at times) and to record our journey of building the home of our dreams within the the NZ planning regulations. There will be photos at times as well.

Presently though i've got a couple of months to catch up on and rather than bore everybody with vague recollections of what we might have done on 06/06, i thought i'd fill in the picture by doing themed posts; to provide a background of many of the issues we have faced and the decisions we have made. I'll try to keep them interesting and informative so if anyone is embarking on a similar journey they might be able to save a few dollars by not making the same mistakes!