Inside the incredible home designed for a stargazing renaissance man

When architect Peter Stutchbury first met the late Basil Borun, a prospective client, in 2020, Borun swept him up in a conversation about the universe.

“He was particularly fond of the Milky Way and would talk about constellations and their formation with a great depth of passion and understanding,” Stutchbury says.

Borun was a renaissance man: in addition to qualifications in aerospace engineering, the one-time NASA employee was a trained architect. Despite this expertise, he engaged Stutchbury’s firm to design his new home in the Blue Mountains.

“I’m not sure precisely why he chose us, but there was a lovely quality that existed between him and I that was very evident from our first meeting, and I guess that quality related to mutual respect,” Stutchbury says.

Borun’s home, dubbed Night Sky, offers wondrous views of the Milky Way through a 3.5-metre elliptical skylight, or oculus, that punctures the soaring living-room ceiling.

The property’s position on the edge of the village of Blackheath, almost 1100 metres above sea level and near the highest point of the Blue Mountains, affords it some of the best stargazing conditions in the country, Stutchbury says.

Come morning, light pours into the house through the oculus, moving across the living room as the day unfolds.

The home, crafted from concrete and recycled brick and ringed by native gardens, won the Australian Institute of Architects’ Robin Boyd Award, considered Australia’s highest honour for residential architecture, in 2021.

It is now on the market for the second time since Borun passed away in 2023, with a guide of $3.3 million to $3.5 million.

Stutchbury, whose firm has won the Robin Boyd Award four times, says Night Sky succeeds because it articulates Borun’s passions.

“When you look at each of our Robin Boyd winners, they not only amplify a connection with where they sit but also highlight their clients’ deepest desires, and that becomes part of their ethos,” Stutchbury says.

Night Sky’s vast living room, with its 7-metre parabolic ceiling, is a case in point.

“The parabola was Basil’s favourite form,” says Marcus Lloyd-Jones from Modern House, which is handling the sale.

“When people enter that space, some say they are reminded of an ancient vault. Others say it feels almost ecclesiastical, which is fitting, given Basil’s reverence for the heavens.”

Designing the home was not without its challenges. Borun suffered from diabetes and was wheelchair-bound, so steps and narrow doorways were ruled out.

“Designing for a client with a disability forces you to order the rooms much more carefully than you would otherwise,” Stutchbury says. “It is great discipline for the building, and also for the architect.”

The resulting house is open-plan, with two wings, one on either side of the living room, that unfold as a series of sequential spaces. Concealed sliding doors close off each of these spaces if desired.

Another challenge was fabricating the oculus. To create the impression of looking directly into the sky, the exterior brick edge needed to recede from the glass, rendering it imperceptible from inside.

“It was incredibly difficult for the builder but incredibly important, and his work speaks for itself,” Stutchbury says.

Throughout the design and construction process, Borun served as an astute guide.

“As a qualified architect, he knew profoundly and quite deeply what was going to suit him,” Stutchbury says.

“He would make constant contributions along the lines of design refinement and sustainable integration, and he gently inspired, I think, a remarkable outcome.”

When Borun passed away, his niece inherited Night Sky. She was based in London at the time and enlisted Lloyd-Jones to help her sell the home.

The buyer, an architecture enthusiast, paid $3,222,000 in 2023. He intended to use Night Sky as a weekender but has been unable to spend a significant amount of time there, says Stutchbury.

“I think if it were a traditional home, he wouldn’t feel he had to sell it and would just Airbnb it or whatever. But he understands its importance and would like someone to take that on.”

Lloyd-Jones says he feels “privileged” to be handling the home for a second time and hopes to sell it to a buyer who will live there permanently.

“It is a place of reflection, calm and repose that increasingly affects you as you spend time there. It would change somebody’s life to live in it full-time, and that’s what I’m looking for with this sale.”

Stutchbury, who became friends with the current owner and is now designing two homes for him, says he will miss visiting Night Sky. He describes a recent overnight stay as transportive.

“It takes you to places that traditionally houses don’t take you to – and, in a funny sort of way, it reassures you that architecture has a place in the world.”