Grand Designs Australia S07E09 - Hamilton Japanese Queenslander, QLD

What do you do if you're a perfectionist, revel in precision and minimalism, and have a deep fascination for all things Japanese? Well, if you're ex-advertising guru-turned-Japanese bar and restaurant owner Steve Minon, you track down iconic Kobe-based architect Yo Shimada to realise your dream of a Japanese-inspired Queenslander.

 Steve has an extremely steep block of land in the Brisbane suburb of Hamilton that will take an engineering feat of epic proportions to bring Yo Shimada's groundbreaking east-meets-west vision to life. Especially because conditions in flood-prone Queensland are vastly different from Kobe, something that becomes all too clear when the build is battered in cyclonic weather that washes much of the steep block away. 

With such precise and intricate design details, including the galvanised steel framework constructed by robotics, this stripped-back home takes its cues from the refinement of Japanese culture: simple, raw materials and exposed junctions that reveal the intricacies of the construction. It ticks all of Steve's boxes: one bedroom, simple, elegant and pared back. 

But when his partner, musician Jonny, moves in with his grand piano, will this modest but beautiful house for one become a house that also works for two?