LIGHT-HEARTED ORCHESTRAL MUSIC Two men from wildly different worlds join forces to explore the NZ home on a road trip in a 1960s Mark 2 Jag. 5.35 here on The Source. 'I'm Goran Paladin.' This is renowned architect Ken Crosson. Ken's going to show me his world,... Has somebody taken the rest of the house away? ...a world where I know nothing... He must've been smokin' something crazy. ...and he knows,... Concrete, timber, galvanised steel. ...well, nearly everything. Don't get it. Expose him to culture, creativity and style? It's just another case of us stealing something from overseas isn't it? Who knows? He might actually learn something. Are you not listening? No. I have a tendency of doing that. Maybe we will find the NZ home. Is that a challenge? And I'm up for the challenge. Yeah. Cheers, Ken. Captions were made possible with funding from NZ On Air. Copyright Able 2016 Ken, we're churning through these NZ homes. Another week down; we're seeing so much. Last week ` who can forget? ` Roger Walker's Noddy house. Yeah, those boys in Wellington, they really had a crack, didn't they? I'll never forget that playground. It's gonna live with me for a long time. Ron Sang's home ` the long, sort of, corridor of a home, with windows floor to ceiling. Yep, that ribbon of glass looking out at the view. Yeah. We caught up with Lama Tone, spoke a little bit about Polynesian influence in our architecture here in NZ and... BOTH: ...rugby. Yeah. And then there was the art gallery home of Janet. Yeah. Dave Mitchell's great postmodern work. I can just imagine some awesome parties going down there, eh. (CHUCKLES) Leaping off into the swimming pool. Yeah. But why have you brought me here? Is this some sort of new cladding system? Yeah, sadly, Goran, that's not an interesting cladding system. You've heard of leaky homes? Yeah, of course I have, yeah. Yeah, well, this is an apartment building that was built maybe 20 years ago that is leaking. I've got a very sobering story to tell you. Let's jump in the Jag. All right. Cool. Follow me. This week we move from disaster to diversity as we explore the NZ home of the '90s and 2000s. ENGINE PUTTERS 150 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, NZ heralded in the '90s, and on our televisions, the Gulf War beamed in live from Baghdad. It was a time of economic upheaval as successive governments championed a freer-market economy. We appropriated lots of architecture styles over the years, and one of the ones that was a notable failure was the plaster houses that we built in the '80s and '90s. Yeah, and I s'pose we` we'd had a charmed run with villas and transitional villas and bungalows and everything else. They worked out pretty well, but even I know plaster houses; they leak like sieves. Well, not all plaster houses do. I think the '80s and '90s, there was the relaxation of our building codes. There was bringing in construction systems that didn't really work in our climate, unlike the old plaster houses that we'd built in the '30s and '40s, which were perfectly adequate, because they were built with sound building materials and sound techniques. Why did they relax the laws around building and construction? I don't really understand that. Well, I think it was kind of a political ideology. It was that free-market idea. We thought that everybody would do the right thing. Sadly, there were some notable failures, the building industry being one of them. And a few cowboys out there taking advantage. That's what it was. A desire for a Mediterranean look coupled with new building systems that could create the look on a budget saw a proliferation of wooden`framed houses with chic cladding and only a skim of painted plaster. Tragically, the leaky home fiasco isn't over. John Gray, himself a leaky home victim, is now a fierce advocate for the rights of the people who have been hurt by this, the greatest disaster ever to hit our NZ homes. Gidday, John. Good to see ya again. Morning, Ken. Likewise. Good morning. John, this is Goran. Goran, pleased to meet you. Likewise, mate. How are ya? Good, thank you. This, unfortunately, is the expert in leaky homes in NZ. Oh, OK, and I understand you've got a little ripper to show us, have ya? Absolutely, yes. TENSE PERCUSSIVE MUSIC John, you were not joking around. I mean, this has all the hallmarks of being a leaky home. We see the plaster cladding, can see condensation in the windows. Look at the moss and mould. How on Earth does something like this happen? In the early '90s, the government removed the apprenticeship scheme, so we had a period of time where there was a lot of building activity and construction being conducted by unskilled and uncaring people. It's another failed experiment from the government perspective, as far as I'm concerned. The pressure was also on to build houses quickly, so they adopted materials and building methods that were destined to fail, cutting costs, cutting corners. And behind every one of these is a person that's hurt. Oh, absolutely, and this is a very good example of a woman with two young children. And she's ended up in Auckland, buying a home which was going to be her haven, and this is what she ended up with. Well, can we have a look inside? I need to see this. Yeah. OK, let's go. FOREBODING MUSIC Well, here we go, chaps. The problem with going inside here is that it's so toxic in there with mould, we have to wear protective clothing and full respirator masks and eyewear. That's crazy. Wow. FOREBODING MUSIC CONTINUES MUSIC ENDS Goodness gracious, John. They abandoned it. Uh, they took what they needed, and everything else has remained here. They were catching water in buckets, tens of litres a day during rainy periods. It's soaking. Yeah. Oh my God, are those mushrooms?! Yes, mushrooms and fungi. And the stench! The smell! QUIETLY OMINOUS MUSIC You can feel the water. Not a pretty sight, is it, chaps? This is revolting! This is just a tragedy. How the hell can anyone live like this?! I mean, this is just an absolute disaster zone. I would love to put the builders, the developers, the constructors in here and tell them to live in this, cos this is atrocious. How could you build something and tell somebody else that they can live in it? So wrong. Wanna look upstairs? OMINOUS MUSIC MELANCHOLIC MUSIC Look at the fungus growing. Just incredible. Just frightening, isn't it? And look at the water. The water... MELANCHOLIC MUSIC CONTINUES This is one of the children's rooms, and look at the state of it. How could you put a child in a room like this? She couldn't; she had to give up in the end, and she had the children shifted into her room, and eventually, obviously, we had to get them out of the house altogether. It's just absolutely appalling. I wanna get outta here. Think that I've had enough. But surely there were good houses in the '90s too? Very good. Whole bits of the house were built with my son Nat's Lego set. (CHUCKLES) . GENTLE PIANO MUSIC The leaky home issue was something that affected the whole industry, from spec houses through to apartments; from expensive houses through to cheap houses. What a nightmare,... and just think of all those poor people, you know? Put outta pocket, they move into a home, and then they have to do all this maintenance to make sure that they` they have a roof over their head which is effective. Oh, it's tragic. It caught so many people unawares, um, and to them at enormous cost. What can we learn from all of this? What can we take away from it? Well, the biggest lesson, unfortunately, is that the free market has its flaws. We expect everybody to do the right thing, but sadly, that doesn't happen. < Perhaps the other learning that we can take outta this is the fact that we can't just appropriate materials and techniques from overseas; that we really need to test them here in our conditions. And if I was to learn anything from this and apply it to my own home, what would that be? I'll sort you out, mate. Get a good architect. I've already got you, don't I? You're a bit lucky, really, aren't ya? ENGINE PUTTERS The '90s was also when one of the big debates about our NZ homes emerged. Did you create a house that made a statement, standing proudly on the landscape? Or do you create something that's sympathetic to its surroundings but perfect on the inside? Well, which is best? And which is the NZ home? The answer may lie with one family, Pip and Nat Cheshire, a potent architectural father-and-son partnership. Throughout our journey, we've seen all manner of NZ homes, some grand and other homes very small and modest. What's most appropriate, in your minds? I s'pose for me, when I was unleashed from architecture school, I just saw suburbs as an opportunity to explore, and to you know, play with ideas and materials and so forth. And so this idea of fitting in, in terms of a material palette or a colour palette ` not so important? No, utterly irrelevant. Who gives a damn about that? The real estates tropes are all built around a certain set of requirements as to how big a bedroom it is, and this many of those bedrooms have en suites, and this many have walk-in wardrobes, and those en suites have two basins, and there is an indoor-outdoor flow, and a garden in the front and a garden in the back. (CHUCKLES) There's just so much waste built into that pattern. > There's the reality of 'needing to sell the house in six years' time when we have two more children,' and there's a kind of terror that it's not saleable. This house we're in, designed by Pip, is a kind of middle ground ` inner city suburb, not too conspicuous but not exactly invisible either. This house explores a social agenda of what is a suburban house in the late 20th, early 21st century. It's for a respect for that idea that one's home is one's castle, and therefore you can't be reliant upon what's happening over the fence. This building has its genesis in the modernism of the 1950s and a really robust exploration of how one lives. The site here is an overland flow paths, and that means, you know, if the drains stop further upslope, the water comes thundering down through here. So house had to be lifted up, so it became a kind of bridge house. So crossing the pond with the fish swimming under your feet, bouncing down the walkway. CHEERY ORCHESTRAL MUSIC These inner suburbs are full of experiments, really. The idea of the great NZ house, the great NZ novel and so forth all bespoke a singular vision of society, and I don't know whether we ever had that, but we certainly don't now. You can't talk about that any more in NZ. No, I just don't think there is any such thing. No. No such thing? So we've been wasting our time? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, probably, yeah. See ya later, mate. ALL LAUGH BIRDS CHIRP I'm willing to concede we're not gonna find a typical NZ home, cos it means something different to a lot of people. Are we heading in any particular direction with our style of homes? There's lots of examples of really good homes that suit the situation that they're in at the time. They're the ones that we still see here. Right. So the good Kiwi homes are the ones that stand the test of time; they're still here today. Yeah, I think so. I mean, look at some of these homes here on Paritai Dr. Are they a little unnecessary? You know, the good thing is that people with money can experiment with the architecture of the times. Pip Cheshire was one of those experimental architects. Back in the mid-'90s, his vision for a NZ architecture rejected the wooden, simple boxes that architects like the Group said were quintessentially Kiwi. Pip's vision was grander, stronger, bolder. The home he designed for the Congreve family stands proudly on the cliffs of Takapuna, shouting out a new braver direction for the NZ home. This is a pretty heroic house, Goran. Look at the size of this door! Yeah, and the window. Man! Gidday, Pip. Gidday. Ken, how are ya? Good to see you again. Good, thanks. Good to see you. Oh, gidday. Pip, great to see you again. How are ya getting on? Good. I've done some research. Oh God. Ken told me we were comin' to see this place. I wanna read you something. (READS) 'The house sits on a clifftop 'facing the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto Island 'and is organised around the particularisation of the site's relationship 'with the symmetrical volcanic cone. 'Within this general schema, subtexts are explored. 'These include the qualities of bigness 'and the relationship between robust raw materials and the cooked objects of industrial production.' Mm. What does that mean? Don't you love the Internet? (CHUCKLES) Nothing ever dies; nothing ever goes away, does it? It's on your website! PIP AND KEN LAUGH BIRD SQUAWKS Well, the other way of looking at it is a house on a clifftop looking at Rangitoto that's big and built with concrete block. See, now that is my language. ALL LAUGH Sorry, Goran. It's OK. CURIOUS MUSIC Levi-Strauss, French anthropologist, talked about the raw and the cooked. Raw culture ` cave dwelling, and the cooked is socialisation, and so here, the raw building and then the cooked is individually crafted objects against that, so a light switch or a light fitting that's been, you know, loving crafted in Milan... CHUCKLING ...and flown across the world and installed here, and so, you know, you have that compromise between the raw, gooey concrete poured into a mould and then this beautifully machined and polished kind of object placed against it. The idea of materials that it's constructed of are visible, so the blocks are visible; the precast concrete's visible. There's not much else in the house. It's wood, steel and concrete. The Congreves, for whom it was designed, had a really extensive collection of art. There was a discussion about how is the art shown, and the traditional way of dealing with it was white plastered walls ` you know, neutral space. We were interested in exploring a different kind of ground, if you like, so the concrete block being visible, and then a lot of natural light. Then the argument became ` how big should the block be? Cos if you use conventional blocks, about that big, you eye sort of goes to each block but by shrinking the scale of it, you kinda saw the whole wall as a composite of texture rather than a series of separate, discrete, visible blocks laid one on top of another. I modelled the whole thing in Lego, because these are almost the proportion of Lego. KEN AND GORAN CHUCKLE So whole bits of the house were built with my son Nat's Lego set. PIP AND KEN CHUCKLE LIGHT`HEARTED CHAMBER MUSIC I mean, I've never seen a pane of glass that size in any home. The Congreves were concerned that I'd fallen into the trap of suburban windows being broken up into little elements. KEN AND GORAN CHUCKLE I kept saying, 'Look, this is the biggest piece of glass you're gonna get in the southern hemisphere,' you know. So I built a model that was like a kinda hat that was this entire room and had that window set up with the steel, and, like, you kind of lowered it over your head. (LAUGHS) And there you can see all of Rangitoto and couple of tiny bits of steel that we had to have, and they said, 'Oh, OK, you're gonna go with that,' you know. (CHUCKLES) How do you think, on reflection, this fits into the story of the NZ home? Uh, had a rocky reception. Uh, it was` You know, people referred to it as a public toilet and that kinda stuff. I just think about the bravery, really, of not just me but of everybody involved, really. Life moves on, and our culture and our society moves on, and we have to make something which is respectful of time and place, location and the cultures coming together. These things are all in play. TRIUMPHANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC You know, I still walk around here thinking, 'God, who did this?' You know, 'What did I`? Did I really do this?' (CHUCKLES) It's extraordinary. MUSIC ENDS WITH FLOURISH BIRDS SQUAWKS After decades of emptying out to the suburbs, the '90s saw a movement of people back into the inner city to live. The influx saw a renewed interest in apartments. Old apartments were renovated and new ones shot up as more and more people embraced the inner-city lifestyle. Well, lookin' around, I feel like I could be in the United States or Europe, but we're right here in Auckland, NZ. All the different apartments here, they look different. It's very much an international model, and interestingly, a number of architects were involved in it, a lot of them from offshore or who'd learnt their trade offshore. Is this an appropriate response to what should be happening in our major centres? This is a really good way of utilising a brownfield site in the inner city, and what they've created is a little community, a series of different open spaces and community facilities. Yeah, and the beauty of this place is that it's just around the corner from Vic Park, from Wynyard Quarter, from Auckland's Viaduct. It couldn't work, really, without having those connections, and so it is a really good way to develop a city. ENGINE PUTTERS As NZ headed into the new millennium, the internet had grown from 5000 NZ domain names in 1995 to over 100,000 by 2001. We were increasingly connected to the rest of the world. With exponential population growth, our biggest city was bursting at the seams, and new ways of looking at housing emerged. A mixture of house types and house sizes, increasing population density in an area that's still 12km away from the central city ` a new style of suburban living. Here we are on top of Mt Wellington, Ken, and it's a place I know reasonably well, because I grew up in Pakuranga, which is about five minutes in that direction, and in those days this used to be a massive hole in the ground. It was the quarry. Seems a whole lot's changed in not a great deal of time. It was` It was the Mt Wellington quarry, wasn't it? Mm. Well, this is the changing face of Auckland housing, really. We know that the old single house on a big section is an expensive city to run, the amount of infrastructure that has to go into it, and so we need to intensify our city and densify it. So here we've got a combination of apartments, terrace houses as well as the single family home. Just from the looks of it, we've got a smaller section but still a massive house. Yeah, that might be where we're getting this sort of development wrong. I think we need to look at reducing the house size if we're going to reduce the section size. But this can't be the only way forward, can it? They basically started the bidding, and I walked away, cos it was (CHUCKLES) my maximum limit, so we` That's a huge wake-up call, isn't it? < It was. It was. . Owning your own home remains the Kiwi dream, but by the early 2000s, the dream was becoming a nightmare, especially if you were starting out. It's a pretty simple supply-and-demand situation ` too many people vying for not enough houses. The result ` a runaway increase in house prices. And I know if you're looking for your first home, my neighbourhood is one of those places where you look. You've gotta start somewhere. So, this is your hood. Well, it's almost my hood. I'm about five minutes that way. Good morning. How are you? KEN AND GORAN: Hello. This is Marcia and Ian. Marcia. Nice to meet you. Ian, nice to meet you, man. You too. How are ya? And they're our buyers for the absolutely adorable bungalow. MARCIA CHUCKLES You're not an agent, are ya, Hillary (?) How adorable is it? ALL CHUCKLE Yeah. It's gorgeous. Come on down and have a look. Marcia and Ian are typical first-home buyers. The faster they save, the further away the first step of home ownership seems to be. It's a constantly moving target as house prices soar. How long's the search been going on for? Basically open home two days every weekend for three-and-a-half months, so... And so where did it start and where has it finished, if you know what I'm saying? It started in Torbay. Yeah. And, um, yeah, first auction we went to, I was out on the, uh, reserve price. Oh. So they basically started the bidding, and I walked away, cos it was (CHUCKLES) my maximum limit, and so we` That's a huge wake-up call, isn't it? Yeah. It was. It was, and it was a tiny little house as well. So we started looking down here, and we were stoked, cos suddenly, things were affordable. There are certain stigmas attached to Beach Haven, Birkdale, this sort of area. Yeah. But it's getting better, isn't it? It is. It is. Great neighbours. (LAUGHS) < Yeah. Yeah. Let me tell you about these guys. I dunno. ALL LAUGH So, what's attracting you to this house? It's the first one that we've both really loved. When we walked in, we just both walked straight out, and we're just like, 'Love it.' It's open, it's flat, it's fenced. Yeah. You know, we're looking at starting a family next year. Does Marcia know that? Yes. Yes. Yeah. I hope so. Yeah. (LAUGHS) She's a huge part in starting the family. IAN AND KEN LAUGH What's your auction strategy going to be? Well, if we go to single income next year with starting a family, then we've gotta set that limit hard. Yeah. We can't go over it, otherwise we'll just` yeah, we'll be doing it way too tough. So here's another NZ home dilemma ` how on Earth do you buy one? And where does all this price escalation end? There's a grim view amongst economists about what happens next, according to Brian Easton. Well, there are two sorts of, um, economists ` one who says a bubble is impossible until its popped, (CHUCKLES) and the other half say, 'It is a bubble, and it's going to pop some day, but we don't know when.' BANG! It's pretty clear that housing prices in Auckland are above long-term realistic levels. People have been assuming that house prices always go up, and they always go up until they go down. Like, you see somebody, and you know they're going to do something stupid. You can't tell what they're going to do stupid, but they're going to. One scenario which I often use just to illustrate what could happen would be if the Chinese financial system tightened. Those people who've borrowed in China and invested in NZ would suddenly find themselves requiring cash, and of course, everyone would try and sell their houses, and as a result, there'll be downward pressure on prices. You or I might also be in that situation of wanting, say, to sell our house or having a high mortgage on our house and suddenly finding the value of the house below that. The pain would be taken by the house owner, not by the banking system, which would make it very fragile. But people like Marcia and Ian can't think about the worst-case scenario. For them, it's about home ownership, that sense of security that NZers have taken for granted for so long. OK, you two, today is the big day. How are the nerves? How are we feeling? MARCIA: Oh, very nervous today. Yeah. Yeah, we just don't know. You've gotta go in there and you got your limit and just not sure if it's actually gonna be enough, so... I'm under instruction not to bid first, (CHUCKLES) so, um, won't be bidding first. We're probably just gonna wait until, um, it slows down a bit and then just come in really aggressive. We haven't actually found anything that compares with this, so still our number one. Good luck. Let's go and have a look. Cheers. Cheers. Well, I hope it goes well. Gimme a hug. ALL LAUGH Good luck. Thank you. All the best. Now let's get in there. We don't wanna miss it. Opening offer, please. Who'll get us away? Opening bid. MAN: 500. $500,000. Thank you very much. At 500,000. We're away. 550. 550. First call at 550. That's not gonna do it. TENSE PERCUSSIVE MUSIC < MAN: $600. Thank you very much. < At $600,000. Over to you. 610. 610. 20. 630. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) 30. 40. 50. < 50. 55. At 655. 60. 60. At 660,000. I can't sell it at that level. I'll just pause the auction here and go and get further instruction from my vendors. One moment, please. Please hold your bid. GORAN: I remember this moment from when I bought my home ` fear bordering on terror but excitement too, a NZ dream about to become reality... Nah, yeah, we've got our limit. ...maybe. What is it? It's` $680 is our limit, so... We're not going any higher. It's not worth it. 5. It's over. All right? Yeah. And go back at 685. It's over. (SIGHS) Do you reckon? It's only 5. Yeah, we can do 685. We can do 85, yup. I don't think she'll move. POIGNANT MUSIC 685,000, and, ladies and gentlemen, I can announce that we are on the market. Best bid from here will sell. First call at 685. Second call. Third and final call, 685,000. POIGNANT MUSIC CONTINUES Sold. Welcome to the neighbourhood. LIGHT APPLAUSE Congratulations. UPLIFTING MUSIC You guys are homeowners. This place is yours! (LAUGHS) Don't think it's sunk in yet. Just like that. ALL EXCEPT GORAN LAUGH Well, you're on the ladder now. Yeah. Yeah, it's` it's surreal, isn't it? Broke through our ceiling. Yeah. By how much? Uh, 5 grand only. Oh, 5K over 30 years is nothing, guys. Yeah, that's` that's 20 grand. < Oh. (LAUGHS) (CHUCKLES) Over 30... OK, so it's a little more than nothing. This is the real estate agent. Yeah, yeah. ALL LAUGH The salesman. It's ours. Yeah. Yeah, it's your home, guys. Yeah, thanks a lot. Well done. (CHUCKLES) More hugs? Yeah. Oh. (CHUCKLES) Well done. Cheers. Nah, let's just explode it. Oh, yup. IAN AND MARCIA CHUCKLE Boom. I'll give Goran a hug. It's all right. ALL LAUGH BIRD SQUAWKS You know, I think back four years ago to when I purchased my house and how hard it was back then, and I personally feel like it's just getting harder and harder, you know. Prices in Auckland in particular they're going through the roof. That's true. I think there is a real microcosm of inflated prices here in Auckland. You go out into the provinces and it's nowhere near as dramatic, but in Auckland, yeah, it's a problem, but I think there's a big change that's happened in the last 20 years, and that's we've got other options. We've got apartments which we weren't familiar with 20 or 30 years ago; we've got terrace houses, and so we've got this intense way of living that I think is the new thing for the NZ population. You know, bringin' it back to why we're even here ` is there a NZ home? ` I think it's pretty obvious that it's not about the style; it's about how we live inside these different kinds of homes. You've got it. I'm learning, aren't I? (LAUGHS) (CHUCKLES, WHOOPS) So there's no one NZ home. I can live with that, but surely there have been positive effects from new technology? Split stone, polished stone. You just got the catalogue out, didn't you, Marshall? You went tick, tick, tick, tick. No, no, no, no, as soon as it was on special, I said, 'Yes, I'll take that.' . Sometimes it's not how you live but how others perceive you to live, and the response in the mid-2000s in housing terms was what sometimes gets called McMansions ` homes of indeterminate architectural style all vying for their chance to dominate the street. Whaddaya think of this style, Ken? Don't hold back. No comment, except to say that it has an impact on what our homes look like. They too are NZ homes. Sometimes you don't see a disaster coming no matter what you do. The 22nd of February 2011 is a date no Cantabrian will forget. Christchurch suffered an earthquake that was indiscriminate in its destruction. Whole suburbs were damaged beyond repair. For so long the very symbol of security, many Christchurch homes were gone forever, and the people who lived in them faced an uncertain future. We're going to Christchurch to take a first-hand look at the aftermath five years on. Here on the banks of the Avon, there are areas that will never see homes again. You know what, this is something that has to be seen to be believed, because no amount of watching the destruction that's occurred in Christchurch on television ` it doesn't give you the sense of devastation, of utter hopelessness as what I'm feeling right here today. Our home is emotional security. It's financial security, and in a heartbeat, that changes. These were all suburban homes. There would've been a house and a family there, a house and a family there. Yeah. Kind of how you might imagine the apocalypse. It's bleak, and it's gone, and there's nobody here. Yeah, it's on that level. It's lifeless. Yeah, it's more than just a house being taken from you; it's memories that you've created; it's your home base, you know, where your family has grown up, where you're creating your own family, and then there's the uncertainty that goes along. 'Where do I go from here? What will the government do for me if they'll do anything at all?' I would have no idea what to do. And it must be just devastating for these people. You look around here, and everything's gone. Everything about your previous life has changed. Yeah. That's not to say that things can't come outta the ashes, but a fundamental change in your life. It's horrible. It was a scale of destruction not seen since Napier in 1931. Suddenly, the NZ home was fragile and uncertain. It was a time of recovery, with the rebuild still a long way in the future,... but there were positives for our homes in the 2000s as well. Changing technologies in all areas of the building world meant new and interesting materials were increasingly available. One architect who wasn't afraid to experiment built his own home from a wide variety of materials, some you might not normally associate with current building. Look at this, Goran ` concrete, timber, marble, terracotta, galvanised steel. But if you're as clever as Marshall Cook, the finished article is astonishing. Marshall. Good to see you again. Come in, come in. Marshall, there's no escaping it; this is a street of villas. How did you get away with putting something like this in this landscape? So many people in the street have rebuilt old houses from the ground up, and it still looks the same as it did before ` ugly old villa. I mean, why do you wanna build the past? GENTLE ACOUSTIC MUSIC If you look around, the number of materials that you've used ` translucents to glasses,... various timbers,... laminated plywood, solid timber,... split stone, polished stone. You just got the catalogue out, didn't you, Marshall? You went tick, tick, tick, tick. No, no, no, no, as soon as it was on special, I said, 'Yes, I'll take that.' Yeah. ALL LAUGH GENTLE, CHEERFUL MUSIC It's not unusual to have a variety of materials. What is hard to do is to get the materials to fit together. So it's a matter of how the weatherboards go with the windows and the joinery and how the brickwork goes with the windows and the joinery. And it actually works. It's a perfect composition. You've used a structural system, a cladding system that didn't exist a hundred years ago when the suburb was settled, but it's a reinterpreted context, isn't it? Yeah, it is. You know, even the glassed-in veranda, it's still that same game. I just wanna know what this place is like to live in. (CHUCKLES) It's really lovely. I open the door when I come home at night and I always feel a slight sense of excitement. I still find coming home a pleasure. Well, Ken, I was a massive fan of Marshall's house. I loved the combination of materials that he used in constructing it and just that you could open up or close down a space by simply sliding a door. Well, I think it's a great example of analysing the elements of the area, reinterpreting them and doing something that is contemporary, you know, making new history. Would you say it would be better than constructing a replica villa? I think it's much better. I think just as we like people that aren't shallow, that aren't facades, we like buildings too that are solid and have an honesty and an integrity. Mm, just like you and I, mate ` all about honesty and integrity. Like us, mate. Yeah. That's why we hang out all the time. But what happens when you get a group of like-minded people who want to create their own community? I feel like I'm at primary school camp. It's so calm and peaceful, and it feels like you're on holiday. . The idea of living in your own mansion, in your own little bubble is at odds with what society should be for some. People should live in communities, caring for and about one another, the thinking goes. Here we go with our full-circle ideas again. Communities and extended families living together? That's what the Maori were all about. And that's what co-housing is about too ` a desire to blend living in your own home with a sense of community provided by communal spaces and activities. This sounds interesting, but it also sounds like something they tried in the '60s ` you know, the whole flower power thing. Well, Earthsong in West Auckland is a successful co-housing complex. It's the brainchild of Robin, who's been a resident here since it was built in 2002. Looks like their moat's a bit overgrown, mate. BIRDS CHIRP That is their water treatment, their storm water. It's a swale, Goran. It's a swale. Good to know. Robin. Hi. Hi. How are you? Good to see you. Yeah, really good. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, Robin. Goran. Nice to meet you. Hello, Goran. Yeah. Welcome to Earthsong. Thank you. Thanks for having us. Extraordinary. It's interesting, isn't it? Come on, I'll show you round. Yeah. Oh, this is a great spot, isn't it? You can survey the scene from here. Yeah, absolutely. This is our rotunda. It's just the best place to be on a hot day. Come out with your cuppa tea, and a bunch of neighbours will join you. It's really good. I feel like I'm at primary school camp. It's relaxing, isn't it? Yeah. It's so calm and peaceful, and it feels like you're on holiday. RELAXED ACOUSTIC MUSIC So, you'll see we keep the cars at the edge of the site, and that's where they stay, so the rest of community's all pedestrian. It's for people. This path winds its way through the community, so it's a bit of a figure eight coming right through the middle and leading to the houses. So it connects all the houses, doesn't it? This is kinda the umbilical cord. Yup, and in any other subdivision, this would be the main road. So, we keep some of the compost bins right in the middle. We're not ashamed of them. They're part of the whole cycle of things and means that people will use them, and we've also got worm farms and Bokashi Buckets and various systems for` What buckets? Bokashi. It's a` Oh, do you not`? Do you not know what that is? KEN AND ROBIN LAUGH I don't. (LAUGHS) I don't, actually. (LAUGHS) It's an anaerobic method of composting as opposed to the aerobic method that normal compost bins use. Sounded like a loaf of bread to me. ALL LAUGH BIRDS CHIRP It's not about being a isolated, self-sufficient little bubble at all. It's being as sustainable as you can be. Yeah, and still very linked with what's going on around us. Could we possibly have a look inside one of your homes? For sure, yeah. Come and have a look. Yeah? Awesome. If it's no trouble, of course. No, we like showing off our houses. (CHUCKLES) (CHUCKLES) So, come on in. Oh wow. This is nice and warm, isn't it? Warm colour in here. Very cosy. This is what we call a terrace house, so the house is downstairs, kitchen, dining, living areas, and upstairs, two bedrooms and a bathroom. They've all got windows and doors on the north side so that the sun comes in. Concrete floor with a coloured oxide in the floor and tung oil finish, so the floor absorbs the warmth from the sun and keeps the houses really warm, and as well, the rammed earth walls absorb that warmth. I love how cosy it feels. STAIRS CREAK SOFTLY They're quite small houses, but, um, actually, they're quite vertical as well. We've got the bedrooms up here and the bathroom, and then if you look up, you'll see there's a loft area up there as well. That can be your room, Ken. Thank you, Goran. I'll give you a leg-up, mate. Can you stand bolt upright? Is there enough room? Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. So, great little storage. This could be a little study. That's right. Sleeping loft for the kids. Fabulous. Perfect for a tiny man. (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) BIFF! What are you saying, Goran? (CHUCKLES) Nothing. (CHUCKLES) What would you say to people who would suggest that this place is just like a hippy commune in the 21st century? You've walked around now and you've learnt a bit about it. How does it resemble a hippy commune apart from the fact that we're living, perhaps, in a more cooperative way? Much like a papa kainga, the way that early Maori used to live in their communities. Absolutely, and not just early Maori but practically any indigenous culture that you can think of, and a lot of those still maintain that sense of community, and I think those of us who have lost it are really losing out. It's a richer and safer and more interesting life when you work in` together with the people around you. When you know your neighbour, actually, you care a bit more about whether your music's too loud, and if you do take too many eggs, eventually, someone's gonna take you aside and say, you know, 'Hey.' ALL LAUGH 'I'm coming over for scrambled eggs on Monday.' Yeah. ALL CONTINUE LAUGHING INSECTS CHIRP What a complicated, interesting era. How do we sum that up? With the leakies, we tried a new way of construction with some notable failures... Mm. ...at enormous cost to people, both emotionally and financially. Financially. Mm. Yeah. What did you think about this community today? I kinda feel a little bit envious. What about you? Can you see yourself living in a place like this? I like it. I mean, there's a model here for the house going forward. Good design principles ` that you orientate your houses to the sun, that you have good levels of insulation and natural light, thermal mass absorbing and reradiating. I mean, I think it's got that really interesting alternative way of living, and you've got people looking out for each other. Yeah. Yeah, I might just hang around the hens, wait for them to lay a few eggs, cook myself some scrambled eggs for breakfast. (CHUCKLES) It's the one meal I know how to cook. (CHUCKLES) Sad but true. BOTH CHUCKLE