After seeing many homes built by D Pearce Constructions in the hilly suburbs of Bardon and Toowong, the clients approached us to build this two storey home with undercroft designed by John Cunningham of Cunningham Designs. The home sits on an elevated spot in a leafy street and has a sleek minimalist façade.

 

The brief included the desire for a contemporary home that allowed for two levels of living to accommodate older children and visiting extended family. The design benefits from the sloping site, resulting in a creation of multiple levels. The home’s block base creates an undercroft area that has allowed it to be lifted to a height that offers those desirable city views from both living spaces and kitchen area. A basement area adjoins the double car garage in the undercroft which provides additional storage and working space.

 

As the client has lived in this suburb for over 20 years, they knew which aspect received the harshest Western sun. Taking this in to consideration, the front façade features no windows and slightly cantilevers which allows filtered light to pass through a lower glass wall at the entrance. The home is oriented to the east to take advantage of its elevated uninterrupted views. The upper living levels provide sweeping views of the Brisbane CBD and allow for indoor/outdoor entertaining. 

 

The home features three custom-designed walk-in robes and three living spaces. The main central wall that connects the entrance and staircase to the main upper living area is clad in modularArts® interlocking panels, an architectural project that takes advantage of the abundant gypsum material. These panels were cut and installed on site and plastered to create a seamless wall.

 

One of the first major challenges on this project was site accessibility, particularly when it came to the vast amount of structural steel required for this home. Site access was very limited so our team could not use a crane to transport heavy materials to site. The second major challenge presented was the large square front façade. This flat single piece needed to be built to last as it had no expansion joints and then needed to be pivoted in to place.

 

With nearly all projects, we work with the client in detail at the beginning and require sign-off of fittings and selections so the client is provided a highly detailed quote. Due to this process, this home was completed on time and came within $2,000 of its original contract price.