We designed our house in Lawson in the Blue Mountains. The land formed one half of an amazing Japanese garden developed over 30 odd years. We did a fair bit of groundworks moving trees and shrubs around and Michael Myers and myself  had to sacrifice one  80ft gum tree in order to build the house, which we cut down ourselves with borrowed chainsaws and ropes.

The house was built by Phillip Ascott with the help of many fine tradespeople, including Sterling Wardell. Phillip, has built some amazing houses by architects like Glenn Murcutt and Rick Leplastrier. Phillip  gave our design so much love and along the way imparted so much of his knowledge and skill to the project, including having me as his shit kicker throughout most of the project. This house never would have happened without Phillip and the amazing people he brought along with him, many of whom we now count as friends.

It took us 18 months to design and draw the plans and we did the D.A ourselves. Blue Mountains council where very helpful in seeing the house get through the process. Here are some of the plans  in PDf format

Joyce and myself hand glazed and refired 3500 black bricks that form the base of the building. We found the bamboo floor on ebay and also moved that about 3 times ourselves throughout the project. We also cast our own bathroom sinks and built all the bathroom furniture. Phillip and Russell Davies built the doors by hand that slide along the outside of the building.

To anyone who dreams of building and designing their own house, if you have some spare time ” go for it” we say. Dont listen to the naysayers who say your life will be ruined and remember good design doesnt have to cost a lot of money, but you do have to want to do things yourself including bucket loads of research and plenty of physical labor.

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And here is a gallery of the build process. People often ask us is the house finished ? Yes it is, in terms of livability and in terms of our love for it. But its only finished in a certain sense. We are already thinking about stage 2 which will not add anymore living space, but will attend to the outside of its surface skin with all of its sculptural possibilities. This way the house becomes an evolving work of functional art. Another unrealised part of the house is the infrastructure for surround sound that has been built into its main living module that is not yet fully commissioned. One day we intend to commission artists sound works for the house.