Making Home - Whaka Kāinga

Think 500 m2 of suburbia and an 84 year old 3-bedroom house surrounded by a sh*t load of grass. Imagine transforming this into wilderness-like nature, a living market of fresh vegetables and fruit and a vision of utopian human edifice. This is what we call the Making Home project. It has a 5-year timeline to renovate the house as an (uncertified) living building and turn the grass that surrounds into a 7-layered food forest. The mission is to challenge laissez fare NZ, and attempt making a home that provides hope amidst complex cultural, economic and ecologic challenges.

Peak human experience
This is about identifying and recognising what makes for optimum human experience before drawing plans or lifting a hammer. This is about conceiving a house that facilitates and supports such a human experience. I'm unclear whether there is a universal peak human experience out there waiting to be communicated, or there is a huge diversity of multiple 'peak human experiences'.

For a start lets look at what some of our fundamental human needs might be.

The idea is that when satisfied in a particular way this will help determine a optimum human experience of the world.

Fundamental Human Needs
As distinct from from Maslow's popular theory of human motivation, Manfred Max Neef has developed the idea of Fundamental Human Needs. Max Neef says human needs are ontological and as such are few, finite and classifiable as distinct from the notion of conventional economic "wants" that are infinite and insatiable. The needs are classifed as the following: subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity and freedom. Max Neef also defines the needs according to the existential categories of being, having, doing and interacting, and from these dimensions, a 36 cell matrix is developed :

My own philosophy

 * when human intuition aligns with the tangible e.g. I want to feel like I can harvest chicken eggs from my garden, and I can
 * Pakeha have a deep understanding and appreciating of home, belonging and identity
 * Pakeha have a deep understanding and appreicaiton of local history, geography, and events relating to te tiriti
 * Mainstream culture is inherently laissez faire, more deliberate, meaningful and self-reliant
 * This is a work in progress?

Good culture
Problems: Leadership;
 * Pakeha have a shallow understanding of home and connection to place
 * Pakeha have a shallow understanding of their own family tree's and whakapapa
 * Pakeha have a shallow understanding of history, geography, te tiriti, colonisation, decolonisation and aspirations of tangata whenua in generel
 * sense of identity and pride in our culture
 * important building blocks for people to be contributors to teh economic, cultural and ecological diversity of New Zealand
 * Ngāi Tahu Cultural Strategy, Manawa Whenua, Manawa Reo, Manawa Kāi Tahu (Our World, Our Word, Our Way
 * vibrant, prosperous and healthy culture

resources;

growth of practices through intergenerational ownership;

Engagement, value, celebration, protection and authenticity

supporting new forms of cultural expression.

Urban food production

Architecture and building

Cultural development

Brief:

Explore belonging and identity which provides solutions in a home context to: the current urban and corporate culture that defines 21st century NZ living and lifestyles tired and ineffective approaches that attempt to understand and resolve maori and pakeha living together, and ofte

This is a unique and critical piece of work, a 'keystone species' which the other 2 aspects heavily rely on. This centers around “Ben Nevis Bound”, a pilgrimage to the British Isles to rediscover and celebrate ancestral roots. Ben Nevis is the tallest mountain in the island of Britain, the largest island in Europe. Celtic oral traditions record that Ben Nevis was the mountain throne of Cailleach, the Queen of Winter and the mother of all other gods and goddesses. The place of Ben Nevis in Scottish culture is significant. It lies in the heart of the Scottish highlands, a crucible of British identity and history. Ben Nevis Bound is about reclaiming stories of ancestors and ancestral places. In this research and discovery I believe lie clues for the next era of maori - pakeha relations in New Zealand, decolonisation and rebuilding a sense of home where we can be accountable to ourselves, as paheka, and supportive of the aspirations of tangata whenua.

Urban food production

This is about research and figuring useful strategies and techniques of permaculture and food forests.

Architecture and building

This is about research and figuring useful strategies and techniques of living building, architecture and renovation

Introduction to Ethics
"Ethics are culturally evolved mechanisms that regulate self-interest, giving us a better understanding of good and bad outcomes. The greater the power of humans, the more critical ethics become for long-term cultural and biological survival."
 * Earth care - Rebuild natural capital
 * People care - Looking after self, kin and community
 * Fair share - Set limits and redistribute surplus

Introduction to Permaculture Principles (Holmgreen, xxxx)

 * 1) Observe and interact - By taking the time to engage with nature we can design solutions that suit our particular situation. "Beutyy is in the eyes of the beholder"
 * 2) Catch and store energy - By developing systems that collect resources when they are abundant, we can use them in times of need. "Make hay while the sun shines"
 * 3) Obtain a yield - Ensure that you are getting truly useful rewards as part of the work that you are doing. "You can't work on an empty stomach"
 * 4) Apply self-regulation and accept feedback - We need to discourage inappropriate activity to ensure that systems can continue to function well."“The sins of the fathers are visited on the children unto the seventh generation”
 * 5) Use and value renewable resources and services - Make the best use of nature's abundance to reduce our consumptive behaviour and dependence on non-renewable resources. “Let nature take its course”
 * 6) Produce no waste - By valuing and making use of all the resources that are available to us, nothing goes to waste.“A stitch in time saves nine.” “Waste not, want not.”
 * 7) Design from patterns to details - By stepping back, we can observe patterns in nature and society. These can form the backbone of our designs, with the details filled in as we go. “Can’t see the forest for the trees”
 * 8) Integrate rather than segregate - By putting the right things in the right place, relationships develop between those things and they work together to support each other.“Many hands make light work”
 * 9) Use small and slow solutions - Small and slow systems are easier to maintain than big ones, making better use of local resources and producing more sustainable outcomes. “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.” “Slow and steady wins the race.”
 * 10) Use and value diversity - Diversity reduces vulnerability to a variety of threats and takes advantage of the unique nature of the environment in which it resides. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket”
 * 11) Use edges and value the marginal - The interface between things is where the most interesting events take place. These are often the most valuable, diverse and productive elements in the system. “Don’t think you are on the right track just because it’s a well-beaten path”
 * 12) Creatively use and respond to change - We can have a positive impact on inevitable change by carefully observing, and then intervening at the right time. “Vision is not seeing things as they are but as they will be”