Night Sky House by Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Four years after it was completed, we revisit Peter Stutchbury Architecture’s Night Sky House, a recipient of the highest residential architectural accolade in the country.

“A rare and beautifully effortless result.” That was how the jury characterised Peter Stutchbury Architecture’s Night Sky House when it was announced as the winner of the Australian Institute of Architect’s Robin Boyd Award in 2021. On Dharug and Gundungurra land in Blackheath in New South Wales’ Blue Mountains, the home was commissioned by the late Basil Borun, a wheelchair-bound astronomer and engineer, who asked the multi-award-winning architectural practice to “take him to the stars without leaving his living room”.

A 3.5-metre by 2.5-metre elliptical oculus in the parabolic vaulted ceiling is tilted 20 degrees to the south to enable stunning views of the southern night sky.

Peter Stutchbury and the two project architects, Fernanda Cabral and Sobi Slingsby, responded to Basil’s request in the most striking way: creating a 3.5-metre by 2.5-metre elliptical oculus in the parabolic vaulted ceiling of the living space, tilted 20 degrees to the south to enable stunning views of the southern night sky, home to a clutch of Basil’s favourite constellations. The vaulted ceiling was also inspired by Basil’s most-loved building, England’s Gothic Salisbury Cathedral, and memories of visiting a restaurant in Romania housed in a 19th-century munitions bunker. The architect has described the resulting chamber as feeling like “a church, a castle, a railway arch, a Middle Eastern grain store”.

The living/dining/kitchen space is the nexus of a simple east-west linear floor plan that opens to the north, with two wings connected by ultra-wide passageways for ease of accessibility. The eastern wing contains the main bedroom, ensuite and dressing-room; the west, a guest bedroom, laundry and study/third bedroom with ensuite. To the north, the home is flanked by award-winning native gardens by Sophie Zaccone featuring a mix of grasses and native species, while the living space opens to a manicured lawn and reflection pond.

Both materials and palette contribute to the home’s sense of calm and retreat, of rawness and refinement.

The architect kept the materiality simple – recycled bricks (rescued from an apartment block demolition in Western Sydney), concrete, blue gum and steel – and the palette subdued, with the exception of dramatic red tiles, used in the main bathroom and as a subtle trim on internal and external brickwork. Both materials and palette contribute to the home’s sense of calm and retreat, of rawness and refinement.

Like all of Peter Stutchbury’s work, Night Sky House is grounded in sustainability and passive design principles, enabling the home to exist completely off-grid. Its attributes include 48 photovoltaic panels, a 60,000-litre rainwater tank, hydronic in-floor heating, low-toxic fittings and finishes, low-water gardens, low-energy lighting and electric vehicle charging. The oculus is central to the dwelling’s passive heating and cooling system, doubling as a ‘chimney’ that draws hot air out of the home during summer.

A space that makes the ordinary feel extraordinary, Night Sky House embraces the universe while being irrevocably grounded in its Blue Mountains locale.

A space that makes the ordinary feel extraordinary, Night Sky House embraces the universe while being irrevocably grounded in its Blue Mountains locale. It’s hard not to imagine the late Basil Borun peering down into that oculus from his perch in the stars, eternally delighted at the extraordinary creative vision of Peter Stutchbury and his team.

Architecture and interior design by Peter Stutchbury Architecture. Build by Dimark Constructions. Landscape design by Sophie Zaccone. Structural engineering by ROC Engineering Design. Hydraulic Engineering by JCL Developer Solutions.