Life + Style 18 August 2017

21 August, 2015

life+style The Weekend Sun 1

Achieving good architectural design Page 2

THE WEEKEND

Little Yoga Festival

Fishermens Corner

Puran Singh

Lynda Bell - Artist

Healthy eating

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 18August, August,2015 2017

Design fundamentals Award winning architectural designer’s five key design guidelines

Local architectural designer Jon McAlpine heads Thorne Group Architecture and was the recipient of five awards at the regional Architectural Designers New Zealand awards recently.

The homes entered demonstrated a phenomenal diversity, showcasing what he is capable of. Here, Jon shares the design fundamentals he strives for.

While the style and size of each home may differ considerably, l apply certain design principles to each home, from the overall design concept through to the detailed design drawings.

1. Combining form with function

A covered outdoor area can be shelter from prevailing winds and sun angles, however it also often completely changes the elevation.

Detailing under the soffits can further enhance the overall design.

Make flexible spaces by using feature doors and movable ‘walls’ to create different ‘zones’.

Doing this not only creates a design feature, but from a functional element allows the different areas to be utilised more often for different purposes.

A window seat, placed correctly, can create another whole entertaining area.

The Thorne Group showhome utilised American oak within the detailing to add to the architectural design feature.

Using the ceiling space to create the illusion of more space lets in more natural light as well as creating an eyecatching feature.

Entrances can really make a statement.

I often like to draw people into the home with specific materials, and there is often a lot of scope to create an architectural element from the entrance.

2. Eliminate dead space

Hallways are generally a fundamental requirement in designing a home.

Obviously reducing the amount of hallway

length is beneficial, but turning a hallway into a design element and creating an exciting linking space is good design.

For example, a full-height window at the end of a hallway – a ‘light at the end of the tunnel’ – connects the interior to the exterior and turns a cold, dark, unwelcoming space into a bright, interesting feature gallery space.

Jon McAlpine

3. Optimising passive solar energy

Each home should be designed for the local climate and site conditions to maximise the home owner’s comfort and health while minimising energy use.

We are able to achieve this via the correct placement of windows and doors, and the angles of roof lines and eaves.

This is extremely hard to achieve with a ‘set plan’ as often the smallest adjustment in angles can have a big influence on the overall effectiveness of passive solar energy.

4. Costings

While we would all like to have an unlimited budget, even those with significant budgets still want to stick to them! This requires a thorough understanding of construction costs from the start of the project. We are in constant communication with project managers from the get-go and are regularly out on site.

My design team and I have massive insight into ensuring the most efficient allocation of materials and labour from the initial design stages, right through to completion.

In addition, working with a quantity surveyor based in-house means that there are no big surprises with costs, especially in situations where you may need to make late changes to plans.

5. Construction drawings

People often have the assumption that a floor plan with basic measurements is all that is required, but there are so many complicated aspects to the detailing process.

It’s the little details, the understanding of how in the practical sense, plans on paper relate to the practicality on site.

It is working with a broader team to mitigate potential problems, as well as ensuring materials and labour are maximised and minimising wastage on site.

18 August, 2017

The Little Yoga Festival Urban arts and wellness Chakra giant silk flags, craft zones with luscious coloured pencils from Europe and cartridge paper-like art from the 80s.

Soulful local musicians and food trucks, enriching workshops and curious talks. Emily Mowbray-Marks is keen to bring us out of our winter caves and ugg boots and into the May St Reserve at Mount Maunganui for three days of arts and wellness.

“It’s going to be three days of yoga, food trucks, inspiring speakers and live music. It’s a wellness and arts festival with a massive focus on family. And it’s drug-free, alcohol-free and smoke-free.”

I went to chat to Emily about the festival and found her both immersed in creativity but also organised, her bookcase and books colour-coded, exemplifying her ability to create but maintain order and poise.

“We’re going to have a library of books, inspirational, philosophical and children’s books, in a little belle tent.”

Aotearoa’s most hand-made and whole-hearted Little Yoga Festival will be sandwiched between Mount Mainstreet and the Mount Main beach with easy access to the beach and local cafes. A great location, the May St site is also home to the Yoga Collective and the Mount Community Gardens.

“This is the third festival that wild & grace have produced,” says Emily. “Little Yoga Festival happened in 2015 in May St. “In 2016 we had the Festival of Body and Sound at the Robbins Park Rose Gardens. This is the third of this type of wellness and arts festival.”

The Scout hall used by the yoga group will be the main building that the festival will centre around,

with large marquees set up on the May St Reserve.

One marquee will be a makers’ space for kids and adults to draw, fold origami, make paper snowflakes, dolls and planes.

“It opens on Friday night, then all day Saturday and Sunday, from sunrise on Saturday until 10pm. And from 8am-6.30pm on Sunday. Thirty hours of yoga or being able to listen to really interesting people.”

People such as Karangahake Gorge’s Lucy Aitken Read who has a yert on her property, “unschools” and writes a blog called ‘Lulastic and the Hippyshake’.

“She has brought people out here to teach about non-violent parenting and advocates for children’s rights,” says Emily.

“Also Mig McMIllan will speak on how to be aqua with your teenager rather than green. And Kate Bruning is coming, she is an international sensation, lives in Whakamarama.”

Tickets went on sale through the website www.littleyogafestival.com, launching on International Yoga Day – June 21 – winter solstice.

The 30 hours of enrichment with local and imported teachers include stand-up paddle-boarding classes at Mount Hot Pools, acroyoga, aerial yoga at Float Fitness, laughter yoga, and yin.

There will also be arts experiences including ukulele, didgeridoo, drumming, Indian dance, stiltwalking and kapa haka.

Come along and find ways to be a kinder, more relaxed and happier human being with reflective listening, sign language, compassionate communication, Death Cafe, Indian head massage and mindfulness talks.

The Little Yoga Festival will run from September 15-17.

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

life+style The Weekend Sun 3

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18August, August,2015 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 21

Fishermens Corner Shooting the breeze in Papamoa I had been watching the sun rise from the sand below Harrison’s Cut in Papamoa. It was cold, about eight degrees.

On the way back to the car, half a dozen cars pulled in.

The drivers, all men, emerged, congregating near the boat ramp, shuffling in the cold, a couple sitting on the seating. Welcome to ‘Fishermens Corner’.

I went to say hi. Paul Cameron, Gordon Peterken, Barry Harford, Hugh Jorgensen (Jorgy), Ray Smith, Graeme Williams, and Gary Thompson.

There are others, but not there today.

The near daily ritual of heading off out of the house and meeting at Harrison’s Cut has been going on for about 17 years. All married, mostly retired, the thing they have in common is fishing.

“A couple have died. We used to have the odd party at each other’s homes when we were a bit younger,” says one.

Jorgy used to work on the wharf, Barry has worked in motels in Rotorua; Paul has been here about four and a half years. Gary used to be the superintendent in the mine in Waihi.

He recalls the Rena disaster.

“I worked with the navy and army, cleaning up oil and containers for three and a half months on this beach,” says Gary. “I looked after a crew of 23 volunteers, sifting the beach, getting the oil out of the sand.”

These days they’re usually out fishing with kontikis. “We don’t all do it at once, we go different

Gordon Peterken and Hugh Jorgensen

Gary Thompson

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

areas, different days. We come down in the morning to see who is fishing and what the sea is like.”

It’s time out.

Why is no one fishing that particular day?

“Weeds,” says Gary. “Too much weed in the water.” They instead settle in to discuss the weather, car park, council, the sea. Gary kicks it off.

“We all agree that there need to be toilets here,” says Gary.

“Definitely,” they all chime in.

“If they’re not willing to put in permanent toilet blocks here, something for the people during the summer anyhow. Portaloos or something. There’s so many kids,” Gary continues.

“You should have seen it yesterday afternoon,” says Graeme. “The carpark was full and there were kids everywhere. You can’t tell me that they don’t need toilets at some stage.”

“They go in the dunes,” mutters one.

“The Coastal Care people come, beautifying the dunes, but they’re walking amongst human faeces,” comments Gary. They all look concerned.

“Obviously the problem is going to be how to establish a toilet block,” says Jorgy.

“The one at Arataki is ideal, but how can you hook up to the sewage?”

They muse on that. Jorgy continues.

“You can have composting toilets,” he says.

“Portaloos are prone to vandalism. In the summer you need toilets here for all the people that are using this area.”

“They’ve got a composting toilet at Kaituna Cut,” says Graeme. “Let me also say they’re now bringing

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“We come down in the morning to see who is fishing and what the sea is like”

Boutique Boutique

Paul Cameron, Gordon Peterken, Barry Harford, Hugh Jorgensen (Jorgy), Ray Smith, Graeme Williams, and Gary Thompson.

has been leaning against the fence for about two months.

“The carpark is under a lot of pressure now,” says Graeme. “There’s just not enough parking here and people park out on Papamoa Beach Rd and then walk in.

“It hasn’t kept up with the pace of development.”

It’s true that beach access along Papamoa Beach is very limited.

The Papamoa Surf Club, Taylor’s Reserve, Stellar Place, Pacific View – there’s more people competing for the parks. It’s a nice morning, with the sun rising over the water.

The men shoot the breeze a bit more. I ask how they know when the best fish biting time is.

“We use fishing apps,” says Jorgy. “It’s quite unusual for the weed to last as long as it has.”

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

Photos Bruce Barnard

out composting toilets for motorhomes, they don’t have the smell and the waste problems. Every couple of weeks they just empty the dried manure.”

“Motorhomes,” continues Graeme. “That’s another thing. They’ve only got two parks here for motorhomes and the council hound this place as far as tickets go. If you can’t get parking in one of the two areas, then you get a ticket.”

It seems the motorhome parks aren’t wide enough.

“They need at least four motorhome parks, I’d say,” says Graeme. “The more motorhomes that are here at night, generally the safer the area is.”

A kayaker arrives, kitted up with wetsuit and fishing gear.

“Toilets would be good eh,” he chimes in. “I come in from kayaking and I’m usually busting.”

Jorgy built the seating for the fishermen about five years ago. There’s a sign ‘Fishermens Corner’ and a small fish attached to a seat.

“It’s very solid,” says Jorgy. “That log there washed up, so we towed it up with the truck and extended our seat because we didn’t have enough room for everyone to sit.”

Nearby is a Papamoa Beach Toy Library, made by local college students.

“The paving went in a couple of years ago,” says Jorgy. “Council came down and threatened to take it away because they didn’t like the idea.

“But they didn’t take it away after we had a discussion with them.”

They keep the area clean, picking up cigarette butts. One of them planted a Norfolk pine.

And a couple of pohutakawa. The council sign

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August,2015 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 2118August,

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August, 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 2118August, 2015

Puran Singh A sweet life in Tauranga Delivering sweets on auspicious days such as when someone has a baby or is getting married is part of Indian culture.

For those living in Tauranga though, it meant driving almost 200km to buy the sweets in Auckland and bring them back, hoping they’d last the distance in a car.

Puran Singh realised it would be a good idea to make the sweets in Tauranga, as it would appeal to not only the local Indian community, predominantly made up of Sikh, Hindu and Punjabi, but to other similar cultures such as Pakistani, Fijian and Bangladeshi.

“At the time I owned Fraser St Food Market,” says Puran. “Owning a corner dairy was the typical Indian thing to do but when I found out the shop next door was vacant I decided to open an Indian sweet shop.”

Puran wasn’t sure how well Kiwis would accept it but felt that the Indian community and other cultures had a large enough presence for the business to be successful.

Furthermore, his great grandfather had a similar business in India.

It was so popular he had to find somewhere bigger, eventually opening

on Cameron Rd. Family is important to Puran and his wife Paramjit Kaur who both have family living in Tauranga. He arrived in New Zealand in 2002, and their marriage, pursuant to Indian tradition, was arranged by family members.

Paramjit – known as Pam, arrived in New Zealand in the 1990s and has worked for the Melrose Rest Home for more than 15 years.

One of their three children is studying law at Auckland University, and the other two are at Otumoetai College and Tauranga Boys’ College.

Every year, Puran organises the Tauranga Sikh parade. Held in the first week of January and hosted by Gurdwara Sikh Sangat Tauranga, the parade starts at the Burrows St temple, with hundreds of people participating in a colourful display that marks the birth of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth guru of Sikhs.

As there are strong Indian communities in Te Puke and Papamoa, Puran recently opened a second Indian sweet shop in Te Puke. He’s seen dramatic changes in Tauranga in the past 15 years.

“When I arrived, the Indian community were mainly working in the agriculture sector, but now so many of us own businesses, work in

hospitals and banks.

“India has changed too. I recently went back for a holiday and noticed the big motorways, the amazing architecture and growing economy.

But I love New Zealand. I love how diverse and multicultural it is. I love how all cultures are respected and encouraged to practice their religion. It has always been a safe place to live.”

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

EXCELLENCE IN DERMATOLOGY

life+style The Weekend Sun 9 Roseanne Jones Photography

18 August, 2017

Creature Tales Art from the heart It’s art that is travelling more than 1000 kilometers, crossing Cook Straight and making its way up here to be displayed at The Art Lounge NZ in Tauranga.

It has been created by Christchurch artist Lynda Bell and will holiday in the sunny Bay while she stays in the Garden City.

“It was through a Facebook group that The Art Lounge NZ’s Mira Corbova and I were both members.

“I posted some of my art on there and she liked it and we got chatting. That’s sort of how it came about really.”

So now Lynda’s art is on display on Devonport Rd, but she won’t be able to visit the display herself, no matter how much she’d like to.

And it’s a quirky style of art – very bright, colourful depictions of big-eyed animals and adorable humans in utopic settings. She creates busy, engaging pieces that you can stare at for hours.

The layered paintings are usually painted freehand, with little to no sketching done beforehand, says Lynda.

“I pretty much freehand, so I paint directly onto the canvas. My whole creative process is just to paint and paint and paint and paint until it looks good.”

And look good they do – one was even recently shipped off to Scotland, a whole 18,545 kilometers away from its point of origin.

But it’s more than just paint-on-canvas for Lynda.

There’s a passion and a message behind the artwork.

“Animals inspire me, which is pretty obvious. I am vegan so that is a huge drive really.

“My art shows my ideal world and how the world could be if we treated animals and each other properly; if we

showed our humanity and just embraced our compassion that we all have.”

It’s a passion that Lynda has had for as long as she can remember – saying she can’t remember a time that she didn’t love art.

“Ever since before I started school I had a dream of writing and illustrating children’s books because I love to write too,” she says.

“That was my goal; that was what I was going to do.

“You know how as a child you just know what you’re going to do? It never really changed for me.

“It wasn’t until later on, after I’d had children that I went to art school and really developed my passion.

“I always felt very frustrated when I wasn’t doing it.”

To see Lynda’s incredible art, visit The Art Lounge NZ at 32 Devonport Rd. Her exhibition is running until August 31.

Lynda Bell

Cayla-Fay Saunders

Mira Corbova

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August,2015 2017 life+style The Weekend Sun 2118August,

Health, wealth and waste The fresh CBD vibe Kerri Wheeler, a graphic designer at Sun Media on The Strand, has four reasons for being delighted with her new-found ‘Pluto’ diet.

Kerri Wheeler

Living in Katikati, Kerri works in Tauranga’s CBD. During winter, this means leaving home and arriving back there in the dark. The rest of the time she’s busy working at her desk upstairs in one of Tauranga’s most historic and iconic buildings.

She has half an hour for lunch.

“By the time I walked up Devonport Rd to Pluto Juice Bar and back, my lunch break was over,” says Kerri, while opening up her Pluto salad which has just arrived in a 100 per cent recycled paperboard box.

“The main reasons for my Pluto diet are it’s healthy, cost-efficient, has no wastage and is super convenient.”

The free delivery into the Tauranga CBD area was also a major attraction.

“Now I get to take a break from the computer and enjoy my lunch without feeling puffed and having to eat while still working,” says Kerri.

She emails Pluto on a Friday, selecting all of her following week’s lunches from the online menu. The range includes salads made with roasted vegetables, baby spinach, avocado, beetroot, bacon, parmesan or feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and more. Pad Thai, couscous, chorizo sausage penne, and roasted potato

with fire-roasted pepper pesto mayo are just some of the huge variety available.

Over winter, soups are also available.

“Payment is made via internet. It’s quite exciting picking out a variety, as you can have two to three mixes in a large order, or one to two in a small order.”

Up at Pluto, owner Victoria Thomas has been making their creative salads fresh each day for nearly two years.

She was Greerton’s Mainstreet manager and has brought her characteristic vibrancy to Pluto.

“It’s the perfect balance of creativity and I love people,” says Victoria. “We get the same people in most days so you get to know them. If they’re not in we wonder if they’re okay. It’s a community.”

She’s busy making salads, juices and smoothies.

Near lunchtime she will head out to deliver the lunchtime orders around Tauranga’s CBD. “We make everything from scratch with fresh vegetables and fruit. And then in the winter time we do soups, with six crockpots on the go. And we do a hot pot which changes every week.

“This week we have a beef bourguignon.”

She delivers the hot pots and soups as well as the salads. “We sell about 35 litres of soup per day in the winter time.

“Everything is made on-site, in our little store.”

There’s vegetable and lentil soup, seafood chowder, curried cauliflower soup, and tomato and basil soup. And a pot of slow-cooked apple and boysenberry oats.

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“The main reasons for my Pluto diet are it’s healthy, cost-efficient, has no wastage and is super convenient”

There’s also frozen yoghurts, protein and health boosters, breakfast smoothies and juices.

Victoria, along with her husband Paul, Paul’s brother Grant, and Paul’s parents Lloyd and Rae Thomas used to own the Naked Grape, now called Takara, on The Strand, selling it about seven years ago. From there she went to manage Greerton Mainstreet, then took a break before buying the Pluto Juice Bar in August 2015. Husband Paul works at Telfer Young and her parents moved to the Gold Coast.

Established as Pluto for about 12 years, Victoria is working on franchising the business. She has added to the range of food options, sourcing the fresh vegetables and fruit from local suppliers.

Open six days a week, Monday to Saturday, the store has developed a large following.

Cruise ship passengers come in too.

“They like the vegetable juices and green juices,” says Victoria. “After a week or so on the ship they need a hit.”

She laughs. Funny stories come out, like the time one of the four staff members dropped turmeric and had yellow toes for a week.

It’s a humming place.

Back at Sun Media, Kerri finds there is so much in her lunch salad that she’s able to take half of it home for dinner.

“Cooking an additive like chicken or fish in the evening doesn’t take as much time as it would if I was to prepare even one of their delicious salads,” says Kerri.

“Most of us don’t have the ingredient variety on hand that they have in some of the meals, or you have too much of something and end up having to throw it out as it doesn’t get used in time.

“Some of the salads can be heated up which is nice for these colder days, or have a soup. And they have a weekly hotpot option which I haven’t gotten around to trying yet.”

One day Kerri felt like she was getting a cold, so Pluto sent her a ‘Flu Fighter’ followed by a ‘Soupa Juice’ the next day, both with a good hit of ginger in them.

“Boom! Cold gone,” smiles Kerri.

“I’m into week seven and I have noticed my trips to the supermarket have decreased,” she says.

“So long as I haven’t run out of wine,” she quickly adds.

“After a long day at work, then tackling the traffic, it’s dark and cold, but the bonus now is being able to sit down and relax when I get home to

Katikati, with a glass of wine knowing that dinner is only minutes away by simply tipping it out onto a plate and ‘voila’ dinner is served. Fantastic for one or two people, hassle free, nutritious and time-saving. Thanks for making my life easier Pluto.”

Rosalie Liddle Crawford

Victoria Thomas, Kayla Richardson and Jessica Smith

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life+style The Weekend Sun 21 August, 2015

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