Pool area at side of house with wood and mesh pool fence enclosure. New beachside plantings surround pool area to provide seasonal flowers and color. Stepping stones thru the lawn provide access to the nearby sunroom.

Piscina desbordante con gresite verde Oscuro y ventana subacuática. www.laraobrasyproyectos.es www.tienda-piscinas.com

Master Suite Alfresco - Bronte Executive Grande Manor One - Lochinvar

Wide shot of the poolhouse. Features two custom pools, custom lighting, a fully-featured kitchen, and distributed media from the main house. Has a grotto with a controllable waterfall that you swim up to through lit tunnel.

This beauty is enhanced with amazing coastal views as a backdrop. Concrete pool 8x3.5m with White Beach Quartzon plaster and rustic stone coping paired with kwila hardwood decking.

A separate, detached pool house (presently under construction) featuring a south-facing sunning deck with a shade trellis above. A short bridge connects the pool house to the main residence.

Large boulders were hand selected to visually end the water wall and be used for the jumping rocks.

This project was highly innovative because of its use of steel as a stepping-stone framework rather than traditional concrete. As a fully functioning fishpond, the concrete slabs generally used to suspend the stones would not provide enough room for fish to inhabit comfortably, therefore a steel frame was constructed so that the fish can swim freely underneath the stones and around the pond. The ‘Koi Pond’ is 7.9m x 2.6m and 0.9m deep and was created with specific details that would help the fish species thrive in the pond’s environment, including the use of a dark tile and a filtration system that was carefully selected to accommodate the fish. Along with being a functioning fishpond, this space doubles as a standout water feature. With black glass mosaic tiles and Tundra Marble stone coping, the features are highlighted by the surrounding greenery and a pedestal for a feature pot adds dimension and detail.

A former dairy property, Lune de Sang is now the centre of an ambitious project that is bringing back a pocket of subtropical rainforest to the Byron Bay hinterland. The first seedlings are beginning to form an impressive canopy but it will be another 3 centuries before this slow growth forest reaches maturity. This enduring, multi-generational project demands architecture to match; if not in a continuously functioning capacity, then in the capacity of ancient stone and concrete ruins; witnesses to the early years of this extraordinary project. The project’s latest component, the Pavilion, sits as part of a suite of 5 structures on the Lune de Sang site. These include two working sheds, a guesthouse and a general manager’s residence. While categorically a dwelling too, the Pavilion’s function is distinctly communal in nature. The building is divided into two, very discrete parts: an open, functionally public, local gathering space, and a hidden, intensely private retreat. The communal component of the pavilion has more in common with public architecture than with private dwellings. Its scale walks a fine line between retaining a degree of domestic comfort without feeling oppressively private – you won’t feel awkward waiting on this couch. The pool and accompanying amenities are similarly geared toward visitors and the space has already played host to community and family gatherings. At no point is the connection to the emerging forest interrupted; its only solid wall is a continuation of a stone landscape retaining wall, while floor to ceiling glass brings the forest inside. Physically the building is one structure but the two parts are so distinct that to enter the private retreat one must step outside into the landscape before coming in. Once inside a kitchenette and living space stress the pavilion’s public function. There are no sweeping views of the landscape, instead the glass perimeter looks onto a lush rainforest embankment lending the space a subterranean quality. An exquisitely refined concrete and stone structure provides the thermal mass that keeps the space cool while robust blackbutt joinery partitions the space. The proportions and scale of the retreat are intimate and reveal the refined craftsmanship so critical to ensuring this building capacity to stand the test of centuries. It’s an outcome that demanded an incredibly close partnership between client, architect, engineer, builder and expert craftsmen, each spending months on careful, hands-on iteration. While endurance is a defining feature of the architecture, it is also a key feature to the building’s ecological response to the site. Great care was taken in ensuring a minimised carbon investment and this was bolstered by using locally sourced and recycled materials. All water is collected locally and returned back into the forest ecosystem after use; a level of integration that demanded close partnership with forestry and hydraulics specialists. Between endurance, integration into a forest ecosystem and the careful use of locally sourced materials, Lune de Sang’s Pavilion aspires to be a sustainable project that will serve a family and their local community for generations to come.

Fire with Water.

© Javier Guillen Photo

Howard Roberts

A cool, intimate garden with plunge pool and spa is ready for the owners and their friends after a day at the beach. Photo Credit: John Benford Contractor: Stoney Brook Landscape and Masonry Pool and Hot Tub: Jackson Pools Garage: Bob Reed

General view from the east, showinig the outdoor swimming pool, outdoor kitchen (with corrugated iron lean-to roof), pool house and main house behond..