Guy Bunder has never worked on a more challenging project.
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But the rewards have never been greater either and putting his latest creation up for sale is a bittersweet moment for the 34-year-old director of Made Architectural Constructions.
Mr Bunder took "a gamble" when he bought a severely sloping block of land on the boundary of Merewether and Merewether Heights around two years ago. It has a 16-metre height differential from front to back of the site.
He had looked at the vacant lot of land, with frontages to both Flowerdale Avenue and View Street above, three years earlier but committed to another project instead.
"As I got to the end of that build, this land was still on the market," Mr Bunder said.
"I like working on difficult sites like this one because it does give you that freedom to do something that's not just a standard two-storey house."
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He bought the 620 square metre block with a six-month sunset clause while he undertook on-site investigative works and researched the feasibility of subdividing the block to build two separate four-bedroom homes with one at the top and one below.
To do so would require a major excavation project, possibly one of the most extensive conducted on a residential site in Newcastle.
Bunder collaborated with Space Design Architecture to develop concept plans then engaged his company for the build.
The site took three months to excavate then 10 months to build the bottom property at 21 Flowerdale Avenue, known as the "Black House" for its charred timber cladding exterior.
Mr Bunder originally planned to live in the four-level architectural masterpiece but has decided to sell it and will instead live in the top property off View Street which is still being completed.
Design of the Black House, which has been listed for sale with a guide of $2 million to $2.2 million, combined Japanese architecture, inspired by burnt pieces of wood on the property when he bought it, with a minimalist approach.
It is a house that makes a statement and was awarded in the New Houses category at the 2019 Newcastle Architecture Awards.
"With this house I had a pretty strong idea of what I wanted from the start," Mr Bunder said.
"I knew the [Japanese technique] Shou Sugi Ban, the burnt timber, was something I wanted to use. Having seen parts of the burnt structure up the back that had been sitting on the block for six to eight years and still looked exactly the same, it just looked like a really durable product.
"Inspiration wise, from the start, it was always focused around the burnt cladding.
"The whole site lent itself to being a bit of an engineering spectacle, so we wanted to have some big cantilevered structures overhanging one another. Heavy use of concrete is always a pretty big thing for me. I really like using concrete throughout."
Inside, a palette of precast concrete walls and polished concrete floors is offset by reclaimed oak feature walls, bespoke metal floating staircases, custom timber cabinetry and vertical green walls. There are four bedrooms, including a top-level masters retreat, and three bathrooms.
Outside, Mr Bunder wanted the home to blend into its natural surrounds. It has rooftop gardens on every level.
"I've always liked houses that look like they're built into their natural surroundings a little bit more organically than other houses that look like they're just stuck there," he said.
"This is something that blends in with the trees and their hillside."
The unique property, which also has an internal lift and a gas-heated mineral pool, is being marketed by PRDnationwide Newcastle and Lake Macquarie's Jesse Wilton and Mark Kentwell and is open for inspection on Saturday from 2pm until 3pm.