Master Builders outdoor living award goes to pool pavilion project

COLLEEN HAWKES

Sliding timber screens can open up this pool pavilion on all sides. The project, by Faulkner Construction, won the 2015 Master Builders Association Outdoor Living Award.

An ambitious renovation project, which included a new pool, tennis court and pool pavilion, has scored top honours in the outdoor living section of the 2015 Registered Master Builders Awards.

Faulkner Construction won the Outdoor Living Award for this massive project on a large site in Clevedon near Auckland.

Key features of the project, which was designed by Herbst Architects, include the pool pavilion that is wrapped in sliding cedar screens. The six screens can be pulled back to completely open up the pavilion to the outdoors on all sides. 

The pavilion is part of an extensive renovation project that included a new 12-metre pool and tennis court.

Cedar also lines the interior of the pavilion and features in battens on the plywood ceiling. A circular skylight ensures there is plenty of light entering the interior even when the screens are closed. Other features of the pavilion include an "outdoor kitchen" and open wood-burning fireplace within a concrete chimney that was cast insitu.

Other special features of the pavilion include a wood-burning fire and an outdoor kitchen.

Ross Faulkner of Faulkner Construction says the pavilion is just one small part of the huge project, however. His company also built a long garage wing extension to the house, which continues the timber screen aesthetic. This wing incorporates a gymnasium and office, as well as the garage.

Earthworks were on a grand scale as well, he says. "We removed 5000 cubic metres of soil to create flat areas for the pool and tennis court, at seven cubic metres per truckload (that's 714 truckloads)." 

Gabion retaining walls of wire-wrapped stone feature alongside the elevated tennis court. To make an easy transition between the different levels on the property, the pool pavilion is elevated, with wide steps leading up to the tennis court at one side and down to the pool in front.

The aesthetic of the timber screens is echoed in another new building on the Clevedon property, which accommodates garaging, a gymnasium and office.

The outdoor living area also incorporates a spa pool, a bathroom beside the tennis court, and an outdoor shower. The pool is solar heated – the panels are on a specially built platform, which is hidden from sight.