Richard Leplastrier is regarded as one of Australia’s finest architects, yet he’s anything but a household name. Shunning the limelight, he tucks himself away in his one-room home in a remote estuary north of Sydney only reached by boat.

Leplastrier is the architect’s architect, refusing to become a ‘starchitect’. And while he designs beautifully crafted houses for his clients, his own lifestyle is closer to camping.
The documentary follows the very private but charismatic Leplastrier as he designs the Blackheath house that epitomises what he has learnt over 50 years. It looks at the influence of his mentors – Jørn Utzon (Danish architect of the Sydney Opera House), Australian artist Lloyd Rees and Japanese professor Masuda Tomoya.

The film also explores the ground-breaking Bilgola house, designed by Leplastrier in 1974. Acknowledged as one of Australia’s most beautiful houses, the house has no glass and no windows, principles that Leplastrier also incorporated into his own home.