Japanese flavour

Amix of styles when executed simply, cleanly and to fulfil a function need not detract from the original heritage of a home.

The home featured here was built in the late 1800s as a family dwelling. Over the years it has had several small, sympathetic, alterations and one more modern change. However, most features of the original home remain intact.

Architect Stewart Ross was asked to design a new double garage and integrated Japanese hot tub area to open onto the existing outdoor swimming pool.

"The owners liked the Japanese concept of the whole family being able to bathe outdoors together," says Ross.

"To ensure the addition would suit the older style of the house, we kept the detailing as simple and neutral as possible.

"So we went for materials and colours that would link the old and new. We designed the hot tub and pavilion to be functional rather than make a big architectural statement. Previous additions were designed not to imitate the architectural style of the original house and this project followed suit," says Ross.

Bluestone pavers around the new spa area were continued on past the garage, along the driveway and around towards the front entrance to the house. New landscaping modernised the garden and old brick planter boxes were replaced with bluestone. The garage is clad in the same wide weatherboards as the house and painted in the same colours.

On a heritage note, the base and side walls of the hot tub were built from basalt recycled from the city's old cattle and sheep saleyards.

"Over the past 80 odd years, animal hooves, lanolin and so on have worn the stone smooth, so now it has a soft, velvety feel, beautiful to lean against when you are in the water," says Ross.

Cedar louvred shutters slide along tracks around the hot tub for privacy or extra warmth. When they are pulled back, bathers can look towards the larger pool or into a small garden through the other side of the tub.

The pavilion includes a changing room, a shower and a large storage cupboard for towels and a clothes drier. A separate toilet opens off the garage beside the hot tub.

Story by: Trendsideas