Murray Wood, a senior associate at the Newcastle-based architectural practice CKDS, entered his house design in three categories of the 2016 awards.

Mr Wood was named as a finalist alongside five other designs in the residential – new building class at an awards night in Sydney on September 15.

The residence Mr Wood designed was his own family’s home.

“I grew up and went to school in an area with a high indigenous population,” Mr Wood said.

“Many of the Koori kids were friends and I was privileged to learn a little about their culture, respect for the land and their open house policy, where all were welcome.

“At university, books including Wisdom of the Elders by David Suzuki and lectures by Glenn Murcutt about touching the earth lightly resonated with me and guided the fundamental design principals I use in life and architecture.

“The opportunity to design and build my own family house enabled me to put philosophical principles learnt through life and practicing architecture into practice without compromise: energy efficient, contemporary, modest, relaxed, open and with a respect for the land it sits on.”

Natural materials, particularly timber and colours drawn from the natural surrounds, inspired the design philosophy for the Salamander Bay home.

A tight budget also forced made Mr Wood to think creatively about what was needed to achieve his vision.

The house is built up off the ground to allow natural overland flow to remain unaltered.

The house was designed so that it could be built in a factory and transported to site near-complete.

Each module was a maximum of four metres wide to enable easy transportation and craning onto site.

The house took a little more than five weeks to build in the factory.

This included framework, cladding, linings, doors, windows and electrical work. Painting was complete but for the final coat.

All bathrooms were fully fitted out, tiled and completed in the factory.

During the five-week in-factory build period, the site works, foundations and steel sub frame were completed.

The house was then delivered and fixed onsite during two days.

The garage, service connections and decks were completed over the following four months.

“The house not only challenged the predominant design approach to buildings in the area, it also challenges the traditional way of construction,” Mr Wood said.

The Australian Timber Design Awards is a national design competition created to promote and encourage outstanding timber design. 

It is is open to builders, designers, architects, engineers, landscapers and anyone else involved in designing or building structures that feature timber.