There is a striking simplicity about this pool house with its sleek, black facade. Laid out symmetrically, it is centred about the pool and a recessed seating area, replete with fireplace and log store. Pocket sliding doors are concealed, but ready if required to separate the building from the outdoors.

The pool itself is a beautiful, elegant thing – it simply drops away as if a puddle had formed on the surface. The pale grey pavers of Belgian bluestone, with their specially aged finish (a combination of flaming and sandblasting) line the pool as well as the surrounding terrace. The building exterior is clad with ash Thermowood – heat-treated timber produced and manufactured in Finland – and finished with 3 layers of an opaque, off-black stain. The properties of this type of wood make it ultimately stable, so it can be used with millimetre precision, unlike timber which will expand and contract and change colour over time.

Finely textured, pale- coloured internal walls are a stunning contrast to the black exterior. The monochrome palette continues with fittings and fixtures of dark metal, and a Belgian bluestone water trough, carved out of one solid block and aged afterwards.

All the furniture and hardware in the project is custom designed, except the vintage bench and the fabulous ‘Boomerang’ easy chair by Swedish furniture designer Yngve Ekström, which definitely appeals to my Australian sensibility…

CD Poolhouse by Antwerp-based designer Marc Merckx, with thanks. Photos Dominique Smet