ARCHITECTURE MINI-TUTORIALS: "But how much can you *do* with a 70 square-metre house?!"

 THIS IS ONE OF THOSE rare things, a government announcement I can get behind:

“Last year the Government consulted on allowing\granny flats of up to 60 square metres to be built without building or resource consents. The proposal received huge support, and as a result the Government has agreed to go even further by increasing the maximum size to 70 square metres.” 

This is great news!

And it does look like it may actually happen — with the announcement yesterday that " Granny flats of up to 70sqm, and papakāinga of up to 10 homes would be allowed without a consent on specific land zones."

Never mind the misnomer "granny flat," When/if this is introduced, any house with a decent sized-section will now give owners the opportunity to add one new minor dwelling. (Let's call it that, shall we, rather than the more popular but slightly derisive 'granny flat'.)  One minor dwelling in all the places that's possible can do amazing things for making dwellings more affordable — helping make up for three decades of cementing in the opposite trend.

"But," I hear you ask, "how much can you do with a 70 square-metre house?!" Answer: a lot. If you do it right, a minor dwelling might even become your major dwelling.

To give you some idea of that size, until recently, the average size of a New Zealand house was 200 square metres. Now that we've been overdosing on bland, cooky-cutter townhouses, it's just under 160 squares. 

So even with that drop, a house of just 70 squares represents a fairly drastic compression of space.

So ... how much can you do with a 70 square-metre house?

Turns out, with a knowledge of good spatial design and a little bit of cunning, an awful lot.

Yes, I know those of you living in homes with kitchens the size of a large double garage won't fit in. But, for the record, I live in a very workable house of just 45 square metres. So to me, 70 square metres looks like a luxurious surplus of useable space!

So let's have a look at what a little bit of ingenuity and exploiting a few legal loopholes can do.

Architect James Schildroth recently designed this artful 2-bedroom 756 square-foot house below (around 70.2 square metres) and will make it available to build. In the States (where the sun is a different way around and building is much cheaper), he reckons it would cost around US$270,000....

Despite the size, it has almost all a home needs. There are several space-saving measures here (smaller bedrooms and closets, minimal kitchen, etc.) and a number of 'tricks' that help space appear larger—most especially carefullly "nesting" spaces, and opening spaces up at the corners. That low roof corner outside the lounge is especially effective, offering privacy from a possible neighbour, while also suggesting to occupants that the edge of the main space is defined by the outside edge of those overhanging eaves, at once both sheltering and opening up.

These psychological "tricks" are important in every home, but especially important in one so small, when every square metre has to justify itself many times over — space that's not just flexible, but hard-working!

Floor plan & diagram overlay for Frank Lloyd Wright's Pope-Leighy House (above) suggests how 'nesting' 

spaces within even a small home can help produce an illusion of larger space by virtue of the shared 

spaces — the particular space experienced depending on the observer's location at any point in time

HERE'S ANOTHER: A 72 SQUARE-METRE home-office by (Organon Architecture) over two levels, the lower of which is just 55 square metres, but with extensive pergolas — and a hill!

And you can do a whole lot with even less, if you're cunning enough.

The key, really is breaking the box. Understanding how to play with the visual field to suggest a larger apparent space.  And to properly 'nest' spaces so that every square metre within works harder, and suggests more.

Prefabricated modules and the like are part of the thing, but not the main thing. It's how modules and spaces are arranged that becomes the main thing.

HERE ARE SEVERAL MORE EXAMPLES. 

Several years ago, when it looked like Auckland Council were about to relax rules around 60-square-metre "minor dwellings," I was commissioned to produce a few floor plans and systems for what, it was anticpated, could have become a modest business. Sadly, the relaxing of rules never happened, and my client instead decided to try for better things in Queensland. But the idea is there in each of these homes: that a modestly-sized home need not feel small if it is well laid out.  

The aim was to build these homes on a precast-prestressed concrete transportable deck — using a container module in order to show the many limitations of container design, and to allow factory-built homes to be fully transported if possible. They featured both "ceiling decks," to help with services and the manipulation of space,  and a "smart slab" in which dimensions were set for the builder and in which all main services were to be run as a "plug-and-play" system.

I did modify one of these designs to be built in a small town in Victoria. (See if you can work out which design...?)

Anyway, take a look. There were around a dozen ...

Like I say, you can do lot with sixty metres. Let alone what you can do with seventy!

ARCHITECTURAL MINI-TUTORIAL: Soft Geometry

Here's a very simple principle to bring into your kitchen: corners can hurt.

Ouch!

The solution is simple: something called Soft Geometry, instead of hard.

‘Soft Geometry’ is a technique used by kitchen designer Johnny Grey. 

Grey's experience with the Alexander Technique led him to study how body movement is affected by peripheral vision, which, surprisingly, turns out to be another source of muscle tension. When your eyes sense sharp corners on the edge of your path, they activate a stress response to ensure that you avoid hitting anything. This makes you more tense.

To counteract this and make the time spent in the kitchen more relaxing, Grey developed what he calls "soft geometry." His counters have round edges; his islands and the cabinetry below them are circular or elliptically shaped, while the counters and cabinetry opposite them are often concave. He also likes free-standing, floor-to-ceiling cylinder-shaped cabinets for storing large pots and pans. All these unusual shapes make the space feel more playful, which is also relaxing.

The unusual shapes would seem to require a bigger area for a kitchen, but Grey said the opposite is true. With a concave-shaped kitchen, you can get more cabinets and appliances into a smaller space, while freeing up more floor area so that two or more people can work at the same time.

Inspired by the relationship between peripheral vision and body movement, he argues that "people flow like water around obstacles in a space." So "by rounding the edges of the furniture, you make the kitchen friendlier to use." It's a happy space.

I want to make environments that make you feel good, that foster well-being [says Grey]. I started working with neuroscientists eight years ago – in particular John Zeisel – which validated a lot of the things I’d been doing with emotionally intelligent design. I also wanted to apply the science of happiness to kitchens , which was inspired by Sir Richard Layard’s book, 'Happiness: Lessons from a New Science.' He noted people were happiest between 5-9pm when they are either in the pub or their kitchen. So the question for the kitchen designer is, how do we enhance that? 

We need to have a central island where the hob is placed so the cook can face the room with a raised height bar for food serving and for leaning against. Visitors can then sit or perch and chat with the cook who can keep eye contact with the entire room. You need also different level work surfaces for small children and secondary work stations and plenty of table space so that lots of different activities can take place simultaneously.

And it starts with those curves. It could be something as simple as rounding the corners on a straight island bench, to remove the feeling of hazard. Or it could be a whole island is made elliptical.

His suggestion to make that eye contact easier is a central island in the kitchen, but one with curved corners, rather than angles and sharp edges.

"Anything that is in your peripheral vision demands more brain action. And something that is sharp can cause anxiety, however subliminal, because we are aware it's something we should avoid bumping into, as it could hurt.

"There's a practical benefit, too, because by using rounded corners for furniture you can take less space for walk-through areas.

Movements will be more relaxed, as subconsciously you won't feel the need to allow more room as you pass fittings."

While acres of counter space may look impressive, it's not what we need emotionally, says Grey, who believes we are more relaxed when we have less choice and more compact spaces to work within.

When working in a kitchen our eyes and focus are on the work, and on the people around us. Rounding off our corners removes the feeling of hazard in our periphery— and so keeps our eyes where they should be: on our food, and on our friends and family. 

It's all about maintaining focus on what's important. "Eye contact as key to design was another neuroscience-inspired idea,  alongside the identification of each kitchen's 'sweet spot' as the location for a key piece of furniture such as the central island."

This design technique "eliminates sharp corners and makes for a more relaxed way of negotiating an island in the middle of a room." The soft geometry "encourages everyone to linger in this space. People lean against these curves."

Grey's bespoke curved benchtops often call for curved cabinets. It's here where much of the expense lies. But you can bring in curves easily enough with a curved benchtop and "conventional" 600mm rectangular cabinetry (cabinets drawn below with dashed lines). ...

...or a straight benchtop and small island/peninsular. ...

... or something more ...

Q+A: I'm interested. So, how do we get started?

 

Thinking of buying or building?  

    You want a new home? 

    Or you want to renovate your existing home?

Our Design Consultation puts architectural advice at your fingertips.

Let's start at the beginning. 

    If it's a renovation: WHAT problem are you looking to solve. WHY do you want to renovate, or build?     What's not working for you NOW, and what's the best way to solve it.

    If you're building new: WHY did you choose THIS site? WHAT is the very best fit for you and this site? HOW can we make the very best of what the site and our architecture makes possible.

In short, what's the best diagnosis for your situation. That's what we do in our Design Consultation: Diagnosis, and Analysis. And some solutions.

Because if you're going to all the effort of building a home for yourself and your family, you don't want a one-size-fits-all home from a house-builder or a magazine — you want a house that fits you and your personality like a glove. And for many years to come.

That's what we do here at Organon Architecture.

If you want a flower out of the system instead of a weed, then you 

should contact us to book a Design Consultation.

Book your Design Consultation today

As Bruce Goff used to say, we aim do what you would do if you were a good architect. It all starts with our Design Consultation, where we get to know you (and you get to know us!) and we both start to see how to solve your problem by integrating your architecture with your site.

Q: What's a Design Consultation?

A: Our no-risk Design Consultation gives you architectural expertise for a limited time at a reasonable price, with no strings attached. Think of a design consultation as a house call: we visit your home, if appropriate; discuss and sketch possibilities; and answer basic questions about costs and construction alternatives for your new home, or for your proposed home improvements.

Together we can explore placement of a new home or extension, making the most of light and sun and views, masking of neighbours and sculpting of awkward spaces or facades, correcting balance and composition, and adding visual interest. We can even recommend how to avoid some common mistakes. 

After the consultation, a letter will document the results and conclusions of the design consultation. The design consultation is a “stand-alone” service. You are not required to retain us for the duration of your particular project. Our letter can form the basis of a briefing letter for whomever you wish. 

Q: Is it affordable? 

A typical Design Consultation takes two to three hours and costs $800 (inc. GST) as a stand-alone service -- and that includes our follow-up briefing letter and recommendations.

If you don't decide to continue with us, you can use our briefing letter elsewhere. If you do decide to continue with us, and we're confident you will, your Design Consultation fee forms part of your deposit for our next Workphase.

Q: What if I'm not sure?

If you aren't completely satisfied with the Design Consultation during the first hour, you may stop the Consultation at that time without charge.

Q: What should we bring with us to our Design Consultation?

Don't worry too much about preparing a briefing letter -- that is what we can all work on in the Consultation.

The following items will help us give you the most useful recommendations in the least amount of time. Having copies ready before the consultation begins really helps (ask us if you need help finding or acquiring any of these).

·       Site Plan or Survey. This document, prepared by a Surveyor, locates your site or your existing house relative to property lines, driveway, and servitudes. (Don't worry if you don't have this yet; if necessary we can organise this with our surveyor for you after the Consultation.)

·       Photographs of the Site or Exterior. Take photos of the front, sides and rear of your site or home, and of any major features inside or views round about. With a digital camera, you can easily take fifty to a hundred photos quite easily and then put them on a memory stick or upload to Dropbox. Some clients even send us drone videos! More is always better. 

·       Subdivision restrictions (if applicable). Many subdivisions have restrictive covenants limiting what can be done on your site or with your existing home. These covenants may limit your materials, establish setbacks and require approval of any plans. Look in your purchase documents for these. If you aren’t sure if your subdivision has such restrictions, check with your real estate agent or solicitor.

·       Floor Plans & LIM. A copy of your existing home’s plans is essential for renovation. Most council offices have copies of plans of existing local houses—and if you have recently purchased, you will have a Land Information Memorandum (LIM) offering essential site information from council’s records. (Again, don't worry if you don't have this yet; if necessary we can organise this with our surveyor for you after the Consultation.)

·       Contour Plan. For all new house projects and renovations, you will need to supply a site level survey. You may need to employ a surveyor for this. Ask us for a recommendation if you are at all uncertain. 

·       Your ‘Clip’ File. No two homeowners prefer the same materials, colours, fixtures or appliances. To help us learn your preferences, tear out pages from magazines, add ideas to Pinterest or Houzz,  or collect materials and brochures illustrating the ‘feel’ you want. Place a note on each, noting the items that caught your eye, and why.

Q: Where do we meet up?

We generally hold our Design Consultation meetings here in our office in Newmarket, Auckland, before organising to visit your site.

But we can also come to you. Travel time within Greater Auckland is free. For locations outside this area, travel charges to visit site(s) can be negotiated in advance (or can sometimes be integrated into a road trip in his MG!). Contact Peter for further details.

Q: Can we do our Design Consultation online?

For the very best peronalised design outcomes, it's vitally important we know you and your family as well as we can! So face-to-face meetings whenever possible are our preference. We do understand however that this is not always possible, so where necessary we can accommodate a Zoom meeting. 

 

With appropriate photographs and documentation, the Consultation may be conducted online. Many out-of-town clients have taken advantage of this option. Contact Peter for further details.

Q: I've booked in for our Design Consultation -- what do we do while we wait? 

You can have a peek here at some of our projects. Or take an Architectural Mini-Tutorial below to get a feel for how we approach your home. 

• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: 'Capturing a View Alive'
• ARCHITECTURAL MINI-TUTORIAL: It's all in the plan
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: Breaking the box, part 1
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: Ceiling Decks
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: The New Zealand House
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: The Sociable Kitchen
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: Organising our visual field
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: Radiant Heat
• Architecture: Making ‘a home for man.’ Part 2: What is a man?
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: More about windows
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: Using tricks to deliver meaning
• Quote of the Day: "I finally got why architects spend as long as doctors getting an education"
• What is the ideal relationship of architect to client?
• But don't all designers need to compromise?
• Architectural Mini-Tutorial: Tips for your home office
• ARCHITECTURAL MINI-TUTORIAL: Soft Geometry
• Five architectural "must-haves"
• "Nature Near"

PRIMITIVE ART GROUP/BRAILLE COLLECTIVE

For interview etc. with Daniel Beban

BEGINNING TRACK: 

• TRACK 1: Black Dog, 1989 [to remind listeners] 

FORMATION STORY:

Stuart Porter on the early days, starting on a gifted saxophone: 

“He didn't even tell me how to play it. He said just do whatever you do. Blow it. Wiggle your fingers. That's about all the advice I got from him. And that's pretty much the advice I give young saxophonists these days. Blow it and wiggle your fingers. See what comes out and see where it takes you. That's all you really need to know.'

"You didn't get any other tips about the saxophone, books about fingering and that sort of thing?' I ask.

'No. Why would I do that?' he says. 'It was enough for me just to be handling this thing and making big honking noises on it. I had no musical training up to that point at all. At that stage the saxophone was just about making a huge noise to me. I just decided to make noises on the saxophone and try in some way to make those noises into music, without playing notes.”

Anthony Donaldson on meeting Stuart Porter: 

“'So I went up for an audition [at the Wellington Jazz School],” Anthony remembers. 'There were five people there, all the tutors. One of them said, "How long have you been playing for?" I said, "Well I've been playing for three months." Four of them left the room. They just got up and left.' After a few months in Wellington Anthony followed Bruno [’Lawrence’]s advice and got in touch with Bud Jones. … playing percussion in the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra … ‘”…it was obvious that I didn't have what would be considered natural rhythm. I was practising six hours a day, five days a week for Bud, trying to keep up with what he was trying to do. Every other moment of my life I'm trying to play like Barry Altschul, trying to play sounds, just getting more and more into the free thing. See, I'd already worked out that you've gotta get your own sound, it's crucial. So I'd been doing that about a year when, where I was flatting, the woman next door, she'd heard me practising and said, "I know someone who plays like you, Stuart Porter, he's a sax player, you guys should play together." So I got his number and I rang him up.'

Q: Many overseas influences. Let’s go all the way back to the start, as I understand it. Tell us about the influence of Phil Davison coming to Wellington (who we’re just about to hear on Funhouse Blues)

• TRACK 2: Funhouse Blues [5:49] for Phil Davison’s solo sax, from perhaps the first album of improvised music/free jazz in NZ called 'Songs for the Dead of Gandamak', finally self-released in 1979

MORE TRACKS

• Primitive Art Group: Lannie’s Revenge 5:17 (Album: Primitive Jaw Clap, 1985)
• Primitive Art Group: Charles Mungbean 7:29 (Album: Primitive Jaw Clap, 1985)
  
• Primitive Art Group: Arctic Waltz “the single” 6:39 (Album: Five Tread Dropdown, 1984)
• Jungle Suite: ‘Pitch and Toss’ 2:39 (Album: A Walk of Snipe, 1986)
• Rabbitlock: Porridge (heavy broth) 6:16 (Album: The Backbone, 1986)
  
• Four Volts: Magpies 4:09 (Album: Somethings Burning, 1986)
• Front Lawn ‘When You Come Back Home’, 1989 3:37
  
• David Watson: A Code 3:38 (Albuym, Reference, 1986)
• Family Mallet: Bosch’s Bottom 2:33 (album: Bosch’s Bottom, 1986)
  
• Six Volts: Crying Shame 3:38 (single, 1991, Album: Stretch) - on CD
• Brainchilds: I Gotta KNOW 2:27 (Album, Braiinchilds1993) - on CD
  
• Thrashing Marlin: Ship of Fools/ boo bam/all you’ve got someday (feat. Len Lye) 4:35 (Album: Wits End, 2006)
• Mantarays: Dancing Round the Fire 4:01 (Album: Garden of Light, 2009) w Daniel Beban on guitar

SOUNDBED(S) FOR INTERVIEW: 

• ‘Flower’, 20:05, by Spontaneous Music Ensemble
• ‘Swinging in the Rain,’ 14:46, Primitive Art Group
• The Black Sheep. 10:12, The Black Sheep 

How to begin creating Organic Architecture ...

'Rasmussen Residence,' 2003, by architect James Schildroth

Organic architecture is not about assembling boxes and coating them with candy floss. For that, read your latest glossy "architecture" magazine or Instagram page -- or watch the latest episode of Grand Designs. Former Frank Lloyd Wright apprentice James Walter Schildroth explains that to design organic architecture, you need to start not from without but from within. Why? Because, as he says, "This is architecture not sculpture art. What is important is the human being who will use the space." Organic architecture puts human beings in relation to the world beyond. "Space never confines. Space is always in relation to the beyond."

Here's how he learned to design for human beings this way apprenticing at Frank Lloyd Wright's practice...

Learning to design at Taliesin
By James Walter Schildroth, Architect 

When I arrived at Taliesin in September of 1959, I had good drafting skills and had taken three years of mechanical drawing in high school and one year in junior college. I had been reading several of Mr. Wright’s book including A Testament and the The Natural House. I had been mentored by Will Willsey, Architect and Taliesin apprentice in 1954-55. Will, had introduced me to the use of the ‘unit system’ and I was working out designs using the four-foot square unit. I did not understand how to get an original design. I was just emulating the Wrightian design and making a few of my own changes.
    I wanted to learn how to create original form and ideas. This why I had come to Taliesin and I was determined to learn and would stay as-long-as it took to know if I could do it or not.
The idea for an original design was the goal. How did Mr. Wright and others do it?
    Organic is “of the thing and not something applied for the outside.” It is not copied or made to look like something that exists. I could make a logical floor plan but the plan was not the idea, it was just a floor plan. The idea must come from some other place, but where and how?  

    Breaking the box was much talked about.
Someone explained that if one was making a floor plan of a 120 square-metre house, they could draw a rectangle 10m x 12m and fit all the rooms inside. This was not the ‘Organic Way.’ The Organic way, was to let the individual areas of the house be put in a relationship to the site as well as in a relationship to each other.
    Ask each function or area what it needed. Start with the parts and put each part on the site plan where it was best served.
    An example is a breakfast area. Now most people eat breakfast in the early morning and may want the morning sun coming in the window. So that would locate the breakfast area on the east side of the plan. Continue this with all the areas of the house plan.
    I call the function areas of the house the ‘Parts.’
    Mr. Wright’s saying: “Part is to part as part is to, whole.”
    This exercise is not a design it is the beginning of understanding the needs in relationship the conditional requirements of the project.
    I learned to do this on the topographical site plan and place the parts of the areas on the site plan at the same scale. I made cutouts of each area like bedrooms, labeled each one and so could move these areas around on the site and in relationship to each other. The result was an organisational relationship. This is not a floor plan yet. What it does is point out the problems that need to be resolved. You learn very quickly that if the lot is small and the area needs are large that you will have a two-floor house.
    Put each area in the best location and you will have some conflicts.
    Mr. Wright’s saying: “The solution to the problem is contained within the conditions of the problem.”
   Understanding the problem is the most important beginning. I learned not to start by sketching or making drawings.
    So, what can I do? How can I make a design without drawing it?
    Mr. Wright said that he did the design in his mind before any drawing. I said to myself “if Mr. Wright said it was the way he did it, I would try it.” After completely understanding the site and the requirements I did not focus on what the design could be. I did not look for an existing design to copy. I did not start sketching. I did something else, anything else.
    As I was doing other things often a partial idea or even a way to solve one of the problems would come into my mind. These beginning ideas are not fully formed and need to be kept in the mind to develop. If you sketch them, you will freeze them and it will be more difficult to allow them to develop and change.
    Mr. Wright said: “Let the idea stay in your mind until it more fully develops so you can visualize it and walk through it inside and outside.” When you can see the idea in your mind, then is the time to start to draw it.
    I also start to think about a design by putting myself on the real site and seeing the features of the site all around me. I let the design develop around me. I do not look at the design from the outside but from the interior space in relationship to the site features.
Organic Space
    I learned that Mr. Wright was not simply making floor plans, he was drawing plans that represented the space he had in his mind. 

What is ‘Organic Space’?
   It is not a room. It is not a box with holes for windows.
“Organic space shelters and defines but never limits or confines” is my way of putting the concept. The areas are in a relationship with the whole of the interior and the site features on the outside.
    Jack Howe taught us not to trap space but to find a way to let it flow beyond.
    Space is far more than area or volume.
    Space engages and involves the mind of the person that is having the experience. This involvement invites the mind of the person experiencing the architecture to be in relationship to the architecture by completing the space in the imagination.
    Space never confines. Space is always in relation to the beyond.
    Space allows the mind to complete, in imagination that which goes beyond.
    Organic Space shelters and defines but never limits or confines. 

Some of the so-called organic shapes to my mind do not have this aspect of Space. They have curvilinear shapes that are called organic, but they are still boxes, because they confine and contain the same as a rectangular box. To be Organic, Architecture must have this quality of Organic Space. It must allow the mind of the person to freely play with the infinite just as it does in the out of doors in nature.
    Buildings are made with a floor, walls, and a roof. How the architect does this makes all the difference. The usual way is a box room put together with a lot of other boxes. This is trapped space a kind of prison. To break the box, one must let the edges go beyond the walls and the roof. Just as the floor inside goes outside through a sliding glass door to the wood deck. The walls can also go from inside to beyond outside giving the feeling of openness and continuity. The walls become protective screens and masses of stone or brick with open glass areas between. The whole of the interior is in relationship with features of the site outside. The ways to do this are infinite and up to the designer’s talent. I always let the function guide my choices.
    Mr. Wright’s saying: “Form and function are one.” This is architecture not sculpture art. What is important is the human being who will use the space."

'House for Betta,' 1998, by architect James Schildroth

[UPDATE: Dates and locations corrected.]