Hilltop views to Bellingen.  This architectural folly was a place of retreat to bathe, to read, paint rest or sleep.  A 1950’s retro refrigeration shipping container with riveted aluminium cladding and a stainless interior lining underwent a minimal conversion with the incision of a large coloured panel steel door, a timber floor and a combustion heater.  An expressive skillion roof projected front and back to cover a stepped verandah deck to the views and an outdoor bathroom to the rear.  

The plunge pool structure of steel and shou sugi ban blackened timber served as a pool fence and structure to support a polycarbonate roof.   The cylindrical battened structure by extension of the above ground plunge pool accentuated the forms.  The pool is a mineral salt pool.  The roof served a sustainability strategy where it protects the pool water from evaporation and over heating and heavy tropical rain. This means very little chemical use, water loss and less pumping and filtration.

The retreat became a popular short stay accommodation in Bellingen’s booming post covid tourist economy.