This contemporary pool and landscape project was conceived as a single, integrated composition — a calm, minimalist environment where architecture, water and garden come together to shape everyday family life. Designed as the centrepiece of the rear yard, the pool strengthens the relationship between outdoor entertaining spaces, gardens and the home’s internal living areas, creating a seamless flow between inside and out.
ecodesign was engaged early, during the pre-design phase of the residence, allowing the landscape, pool and gardens to evolve in parallel with the architecture.
From the outset, the brief was clear: create a pool that felt intrinsic to the home rather than added on, one that reflected the quality, restraint and luxury of the architecture while remaining highly functional for family use.
Material coordination played a key role in achieving this integration. Working closely with the architect, interior designer and pool builder, finishes were carefully selected so that the pool, cabana and landscape elements echoed the tones and textures of the home. The result is a cohesive palette that reads as one design language across built form, water and planting.
While the pool needed to present as a refined architectural feature, it was equally important that it worked as a place for play.
A full-width shallow entry with generous steps provides a social edge to the pool, allowing children to gather, sit and play while remaining connected to the surrounding spaces. An integrated rain curtain water feature, discreetly flush-mounted into the cabana’s shadow-line ceiling, introduces movement and sound while becoming an irresistible focal point for children. A full-length internal ledge along the pool’s long side offers another layer of usability, encouraging relaxed play and informal interaction.
For adults, the pool is equally considered. The cabana is positioned to create a strong visual and physical connection between the water, alfresco entertaining areas and the internal living spaces beyond. From the kitchen and main living areas, a five-metre-long glass pool wall draws the eye across the water, ensuring the pool remains a striking feature even when not in use. This transparency reinforces the sense that the pool is part of the home’s everyday experience, not just a destination.
The pool’s placement responds carefully to the site’s natural slope, allowing it to sit comfortably within the landscape while maintaining a sense of balance and proportion.
Access is achieved via full-width steps that descend gently from the cabana, while generous connecting steps from the alfresco strengthen the spatial link between home, cabana and pool.
Lighting was treated as an essential layer of the design rather than an afterthought. Integrated garden and pool lighting transforms the space after dark, with linear lighting elements within the cabana creating subtle shadow play across surfaces. Rebated step risers introduce a floating effect, while structural planting is softly uplighted to frame views and add depth without visual clutter.
The pool itself is finished to an exceptional level of detail. Fully tiled in glass mosaic, the water colour was carefully chosen to complement the surrounding architecture and landscape.
The coping and concourse are formed from porcelain tiles with mitred corners and rebated edges, creating crisp lines and a refined tactile quality that extends throughout the rear yard and cabana. An integrated rendered wall rises from the rear of the pool, functioning simultaneously as a retaining structure and a unifying architectural element that ties the pool into the surrounding garden walls.
Planting is intentionally minimal, reinforcing the rectilinear geometry of the design and allowing the architecture and water to remain the heroes. Each element has been carefully considered to ensure the landscape feels calm, ordered and timeless.
This project received a SPASA Gold Award for Pool Lighting Feature
Recognising the strength of its integrated design approach and attention to detail. Above all, it stands as an example of ecodesign’s philosophy: landscapes that are deeply connected to architecture, shaped by lifestyle, and crafted to enrich the way people live in and around their homes.
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