Brain Space

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday August 25, 2005

John Newton

Bright sparks reveal their domestic pride and joy to John Newton.

What makes a house smart? Is it the widescreen microwave, the multi-room music system or the 208cm LCD television screen? Or does the smart house run on solar energy, use recycled water and cool with breezeways rather than reverse-cycle

air-conditioning? We asked some savvy Sydneysiders what they thought.

Rod Simpson and Andrea Wilson

Simpson is the architect behind BASIX. Wilson, his partner, is also an architect

Smartest thing in their house? "The space. It's small - just 119 squares. It's easier to clean, there's no room for junk and there's no room to have three of everything. And because it has a lot of openings to the outside, there's a feeling of space." [Simpson]

Smartest home improvement? "Leave the glass out of the windows. There are double-skin awnings with polycarbonate on the outside and sailcloth on the inside. They allow a translucent light when closed and, when they're open, they're fully open." [Simpson]

Smartest technology? "A set of wireless computers for the home office." [Simpson]

Most frustrating technology? "Insecticides. We have little leaf-tailed geckos that inhabit the house and control the cockroaches. We still get a few, but that keeps the geckoes happy." [Wilson]

I'd love to ... "Move to something smaller again. We've got a holiday house we share with friends and that's 50 squares. But if I was doing this house again, I'd give more thought to treating the [plywood] walls as ducts for wiring." [Simpson]

If I were an inventor, I'd design ... "A combined unit which does both refrigeration and water heating because, essentially, both systems are extracting heat from the atmosphere. The system could also incorporate an efficient form of air-cooling." [Wilson]

Adam Spencer

Radio and TV presenter and winner of the

Best Speaker in the

World award

Smartest thing in his house? "My books. The challenge for me is to translate even a small percentage of that smartness into me."

Smartest home improvement? "It'll be considered a cardinal sin in these Jamie Durie-aware times of backyard blitzing, but I'm going to rip out the pavers in the backyard and plant some grass so when my little daughter falls over she doesn't smash her head in."

Smartest technology? "Wireless AirPort technology, which means I can avoid doing work or look at compromising pictures of Paris Hilton in every room. I can be upstairs feeding the baby and still be sending emails or playing poker online."

I'd love to ... "Make the house completely energy efficient - I'm thinking hard-core solar panelling on the roof and recycling water so we don't need to use tap water on the hardy grass which is replacing the pavers."

William Sayer

Gifted and talented 12-year-old student, came fifth in the National Robotics competition last year

Smartest thing in his room? "My robot. I made it out of Lego and electronic parts and then programmed it to follow a black line. It could also be programmed to sweep the room. It does quite a lot of things."

Smartest home improvement? "Probably my desk arrangement. I organised a lot of stuff on it - special lights to light up different areas of the desk connected to a switch underneath it."

Smartest technology? "A new 80 gigabyte HP laptop which is mainly mine."

Most useless home technology? "A coffee plunger."

I'd love to ... "Install a smart-house system - you use your eyes to open the door, then tell the lights to turn on and it would open doors for you. I sort of invented it in my head."

Ross Nicholls

A final-year industrial design student and part of the team that invented the Rockpool waterless dishwasher

Smartest thing in his house? "The Cambridge audio amplifier and CD player and Mission speakers. The whole process is smart; that is, that something so emotive as music can be processed via hardwired technology. It's pretty straight-up decent equipment. There's nothing magical or high-tech about them."

Smartest home improvement? "I recently bought a Bosch Sportline front-loading washing machine. It uses a lot less water and a fair bit less power. It's a reasonably smart way of washing clothes - until a better design comes along."

Smartest technology? "The materials used in all sorts of products. For instance, the Circulon non-stick coating on the frypan ... the plastic on the same frypan's handle that can go in the oven."

Most frustrating technology "The DVD and iPod contain fundamental and inexcusable flaws. DVD: truly amazing technology so easily and devastatingly thwarted by a greasy pizza fingerprint. The iPod (other MP3s, too, perhaps): settle back and listen to any album where tracks seamlessly merge from one to another only to have the moment shattered by the artificial gap between tracks created by the software. The only fix causes other problems, equally frustrating."

I'd love to ... "Become one of those crazy people with a bio diesel lab in the basement - converting kitchen waste into energy, for example - and I'd look at better ways of insulating without using non-renewable resources."

Dream invention "A unit which all incoming technological devices could be passed through, distilling only useful functions. The balance would be automatically returned to the manufacturer in the form of little rubber buttons with cute, yet nonsensical, icons."

Sasha Titchkosky

With her partner Russel Koskela, runs sustainable furniture design company Koskela

Smartest thing in her house? "The combined washer/dryer [LG]. With a baby coming soon we'll be doing a lot more washing so we can turn it on and go to work. It's low energy and uses less water and because it's a condenser dryer, it doesn't steam everything up."

Smartest home improvement? "Planning and planting the vegetable garden. We've just fertilised it and I'm getting ready to put in tomatoes, lettuce and herbs. It'll be organic. It's nice to know where your food comes from."

Smartest technology? "I'm getting an unwired connection so I can dial into the office from home."

Most frustrating technology? "Telstra's useless voice recognition system when you ring directory assistance which never recognises a single name."

I'd love to ... "Open up and make more use of the north-facing backyard and to improve cross ventilation - simple, low-tech energy-saving devices using the climate."

Dream invention "It would be great if there was a compost system just like recycling. Local government provided you with as bin, collected and you could buy it back at a cheaper rate - they could make money out of it."

Kate Nacard

English teacher, past chair of Mensa and the editor of the Mensa international journal

Smartest thing about her house? "The lines and angles of the ceiling. I live in a converted chocolate factory and it's a very interesting shape - there are no angles opposite each other. It gives a feeling of great space and there's lots of light pouring in. There's also an open mezzanine space which is going to be used as an elevated study."

Smartest home improvement? "To decorate in a minimalist but warm and inviting manner. I've used a pistachio green for the lounges, the walls are white and dark crimson and there's a fair bit of charcoal grey with touches of pewter and silver. It correlates with the architecture. It gives a very harmonious feel which, I think, can be unusual if you have a minimalist approach to decorating."

Smartest technology? "My computer. I don't know much about them but it's pretty powerful. I don't even know how to work a video or anything. I'm not technically oriented."

Most frustrating technology? "In my home it's got to be the locks at the top of the terrace doors - so high I can't reach them."

I'd love to ... "Have the money and the know-how to convert the terrace that runs the length of the apartment into a stunning garden."

Dream invention "On a bright day, the play of light across the angles of the ceiling and adjoining walls makes this apartment an architectural pleasure. I'd love to invent an artificial lighting system that would replicate this feature on even the dullest days."

Davina Jackson

An architecture writer and associate professor of multidisciplinary design at the University of NSW

Smartest thing in her house? "The new spotted gum dining table with legs on wheels designed to roll away for yoga in the living room."

Smartest home improvement? "To bring in architect Sam Marshall to upgrade the storage throughout: new cupboards in both home offices; new cabinetry to enclose the TV; new bookshelves; and a big bedhead storage wall."

Smartest technology? "My new Nokia 8800 mobile phone which has a very impressive flipping mechanism. Glamour plus."

Most frustrating technology? "The nagging beeps from the fridge, the security alarm, the car, the oven - digital technologies that are worse than the most intrusive mum."

I'd love to ... "Design the garden and the bathroom to include a system of smart water recycling - but I want to avoid all those clunky pipes."

Dream invention "Sensor-controlled, externally mounted mirrors to track the sun and bounce it into the windows of dark, inner-city houses."

The techno age, page 10

© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

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