Above: A different perspective – from
the pool there’s a view through to
the kitchen and dining area. Architect
Clinton Cole says that while you may
sometimes see pools with portholes
or glass panels, they are usually
contained within a mass of concrete.
Here, the pool’s glazed side also
forms the internal wall of the house.
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but they’re usually inset in a mass of concrete,”
says Cole. “Here, we’ve combined the glass and
the expressed structure of the pool and made it
the internal wall of the building.”
The result is not just underwater views both
ways between pool and kitchen – vertical sliding
Shugg windows in this wall means there’s a very
close connection above water too.
“Because the space left for the kitchen is
such a tight width, we’ve compensated with a
4.6m ceiling height. Plus the kitchen is intrinsic
to the circulation path through the space.”
Two sets of steps lead from the home’s
entranceway down into the kitchen – with
a suspended sculptural staircase acting as a
screen between the spaces. This provides two
pathways through the kitchen leading through
to the dining and living areas beyond.
The owners are very much entertainers, and
the kitchen is designed so family or friends can
interact without interfering with food prepara-
tion. The island bench and galley configuration
enables this interaction within the narrow foot-
print available. A timber day bed provides
casual seating to one side of the space, while the
breakfast bar borrows from the circulation space.