Sustainability:
An Interview with a Green Architectural Designer: Craig Jarvis
Architectural designer Craig Jarvis has always been up for a challenge, and now, in the biggest test of all, Craig has registered the first New Zealand home to attempt to achieve the very strict criteria set by the Living Building Challenge
Abodo asked Craig to comment on a few topical questions in the realm of green building:
Abodo: What are the most important considerations when designing a healthy eco home?
Craig: The client and their lives
Abodo: What are the key things we can improve our home design?
Craig: We need to be constructing homes that are smaller, smarter and more affordable.
Abodo: Sustainable architecture is starting to get a following in New Zealand, do you feel this is happening fast enough?
Craig: Sustainable architecture doesn’t exist in New Zealand yet, the building needs to enhance and add to the natural ecosystems around which it is built.
The building itself is secondary to possible positive effects the building could have on the surrounding environment and wild life.
Abodo: Natural materials are purported to be psychologically important to human health, do you believe this?
Craig: Yes, we are all made from the same stuff, we need to become part of the system, not isolated from it.
Abodo: How bad is the “greenwash” with regard to building materials in New Zealand?
Craig: Green is nothing, and I know as my company is Green Architecture and that doesn’t exist!
Abodo What are the key criteria for eco wood selection in New Zealand?
Craig: Two things: local and smarter.
