The pool courtyard

The pool is a black-tile lap pool set into a courtyard on the sheltered side of the house, with the dark-stained timber facade rising along one edge and a rendered wall closing the other.

Getting a courtyard like this right is mostly about levels and drainage, which is unglamorous work that decides whether the space is usable in an Auckland winter. The paving falls away from the house, the pool coping sits flush with the paving, and the whole courtyard drains without a visible channel across it.

The planting along the boundary wall was set out to screen the neighbours at eye height without shading the water, so the pool holds its temperature into the shoulder seasons.

This courtyard is part of the concrete-and-glass build. If you want the whole story of that house, it is worth reading alongside.

See the full concrete-and-glass build →