Seaside Xanadu

thanks to Kay

Hovering above the blue expanse of the Pacific, Olivia Newton-John’s stucco and-wood house—all curves and vista—is clearly designed for the enjoyment of nature. What may not be apparent at first glance, though, is that this house was designed for nature’s preservation, too. It’s environmentally friendly, says Newton-John, 46, who, before her Malibu home was completed two years ago, had lived since the mid seventies on a large ranch just up the road.

From the start, Los Angeles architect and family friend James Chuda, working with Newton-John and her husband, Matt Lattanzi, 35, conceived the five-level, 7,500—square-foot seaside residence as a place that would be healthful to its inhabitants and in harmony with the planet. All the surface materials are natural—from the mahogany doors (harvested sustainably from the rain forest) to the limestone floors and counters. As completely as possible, toxic substances have been banished. The drinking water is filtered to remove lead and chemicals. Paints and sealers are water-based. To shield Newton-John and her family from electro magnetic fields, which some people believe may contribute to cancer, Chuda routed the electrical wiring underground and away from sleeping areas.

Instead of fiberglass insulation, a seaweed-derived, concrete like material called Airkrete was used. This house, says Newton-John, breathing deeply of the sea air, is very clean and fresh. The atmosphere she describes continues throughout the fluid living space, which is free of clutter -and even adornment. There’s no music memorabilia, no evidence of Newton-John’s four Grammys, no framed gold records. The white denim-covered furniture blends with the white of the walls. < q>It’s so much nicer when everything is simple, says Newton-John. This is a healing house—full of light.

Certainly healing is very much on Olivia‘s mind these days. ln 1992. she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and immediately underwent a lumpectomy and chemotherapy. After about six months of treatment her doctors pronounced her in excellent health, but the transforming experience deepened her long held interest in the relationship between environment and health, as did the death of 5-year-old Colette Chuda. The daughter of architect Chuda and his wife, Nancy, Olivia’s best friend, Colette was also a close play pal of Olivia and Matt’s daughter, Chloe, 9.

The Chudas spent their weekends at Newton-John's ranch, and the two girls were inseparable. After Colette died of Wilms’ tumor, a rare children’s cancer, in the spring of 1991, the Chudas became convinced that her illness had been caused by exposure to carcinogens in the air or water, and they founded the Los Angeles—based Colette Chuda Environmental Fund, which raises money to study links between the environment and cancer.

Newton-John now works on behalf of the organization, and she hosted a fundraiser at the beach house one afternoon last autumn with a guest list that included Robert Redford, Ed Begley]r., Marianne Williamson and Elizabeth Glaser.

The singer has just recorded Gaia: One Woman's Journey, her first album in three and a half years. She composed many of the songs while recuperating in her native Australia on her 80-acre avocado farm, which sits on the edge of a rain forest in New South Wales. Lately she and her family are spending more and more time on that continent. We’re about fifty-fifty there already, says Newton-John.

Chloe will be going to school there this fall, as she did in the spring. This time when we came back to the States, she didn’t revert back to her American accent.

As the pull of her homeland grows stronger, Newton-John plans one day to move from her healthful Malibu home. There’s emotion but no regret in her voice as she con siders her future. The memories are inside me, she says. They’re not things or a place. I can take them anywhere.

Reported by David Cobb Craig

Wall-to-wall carpeting was avoided in the living room (top) to prevent bacteria and fungus build up, and windows in the house were installed to open from the top, which increases airflow to minimize indoor air pollution. Newton-John (with Scarlett, one of her five dogs) recycles religiously, using bins for glass, paper and plastic. A bench at the table on the terrace (below) was made from wood that Lattanzi found by the side of the road.