Architects often discuss the benefits of constraints and how the challenges inherent in a given project produce better results through the need to ramp up problem-solving and heighten creativity. Oxley Pool and Boatshed in Sydney’s Glebe is a case in point.
Set within the grounds of an 1879 Captain’s House with a rich, recorded history, it reflected something of the fluctuations of the Sydney economy: prosperity to poverty, ownership to tenanted, including a time as a residential facility for patients with mental health issues, complete with a Yurt in the backyard.
The current owners acquired the heritage-listed Captain’s House in 2013. They engaged heritage specialists Hector Abrahams Architects to revitalise the house and Allied_Office to create the pool, boatshed and harbour connections. “We had a clear demarcation of responsibilities, and it worked well, as our clients were prescriptive about the siting of the pool and its dimensions – it needed to be precisely quarter- Olympic-size,” Allied_Office principal Telly Theodore says. They also wanted to invest in something significant that, although a private undertaking, contributed to the city by providing a legacy that would last one hundred years, as indeed the house itself has endured.
The existing garden was steep and fell away to the foreshore in a neglected tangle of plants, dotted with a few key heritage trees, and as such was not useable. “We provided the platform for the lawn, which had to be raised to a level that enabled the pool to be slotted underneath. Our design took a few months, but excavation, down 2.4 metres at its deepest, was prolonged as we inched our way through incredibly hard, white sandstone,” Telly says.
The pool, which has a hidden grotto charm, is a complete surprise on one hand and wholly appropriate on the other. The repeated motif of the inverted and elongated egg and dart design points to a historical reference from the early Greeks while retaining a Brutalist modernity. “I wanted to create a sense of recognition, something that resonated, even if people weren’t exactly sure why it chimed with them,” Telly says. Executed in Envisia concrete, a lower-carbon concrete, it has a tactile finish like Raku porcelain with its imperfect markings and a slight sheen.
The proportions are classical and exacting, so the space imparts a sense of calm and receives lyrical plays of light, particularly when the sun moves to the west at the end of the day. “The sun bouncing off the harbour and onto the concrete shell in winter is particularly mesmerising,” Telly says.
One aspect the clients appreciated was the creation of a tiled bench that runs along the back wall so that they could sit there at any time of day and take in the water view. Another request in this minimal space was for a water feature, a strip embedded in one of the curved forms from which a sheet of water pours. The planning is rigorous, with a toilet at one end and a shower at the other, both lit by discreet circular skylights. The pump room, home to the state-of-the-art ionised filtration system, which avoids any use of chlorine, sits under the stairs that lead down from the house.
The length of the pool façade and open up to a terrace, which feel both contained and separate from the house while maintaining privacy from public view. “The exterior walls are clad in Trachyte, an incredibly solid stone recovered from site works and supplemented by reclaimed stone from a Glebe abattoir where it had obviously been chosen for its non-porous qualities,” Allied_Office partner Andy Macdonald says.
The extraordinary garden, by Nicholas Hosking Studio is clearly coming into its own as plants drape over the pool façade wall and a combination of dense ground cover, bushes and palms blend with the original heritage trees on the property; Jacaranda, Canary Island Palms, and Sheoaks.
The way the walls and landscaping layer and intersect creates the sense of a journey through the garden down to the public walkway. Landscape designer Nicholas Hosking Studio’s planting combines with established heritage trees, and as the garden has developed, the existing and the new feel very much aligned.
Existing steps down to the foreshore blur the line between what is original and what is introduced. Telly notes, “We see leaving these steps intact as being considerate to what has gone before; an understanding of the importance of continuity.” Allied_Office’s remit extended to the perimeter wall and the boatshed, which houses the family kayaks and bicycles. “The walkway is very public, so we created a series of layered, almost defensible walls to create privacy,” Andy says.
The stucco render is a nod to its use in local heritage houses and has been painted using KEIM paints, which are used in Europe for heritage buildings. They developed a tone of muted greige, which adds to their gravitas. “The house has a certain delicacy about it, and as a counterpoint, these walls feel protective, pointing back to the maritime and industrial origins of the area,” Telly says.
This feature originally appeared in est magazine issue 52: The Nature of Design.
A discrete doorway at the bottom of the garden leads to a boatshed for the family’s kayak and bike storage.
From the public walkway, the wall is of stone recovered from the site, contrasting with the stucco-rendering walls, which are covered in a muted greige tone of KEIM paint.
