Built in 1939, Combe Martin is the kind of home that asks you to listen before you begin designing.
Its history is present everywhere, in its architecture, its proportions, its stained glass and the way the original home was intended to be experienced. Named after the English seaside village of Combe Martin, the property carries many of the ideas found in traditional English homes and gardens, where spaces reveal themselves gradually rather than all at once.
That philosophy has become central to its next chapter.
Rather than introducing a pool as a new centrepiece, the vision was to create something more quietly integrated. A pool discovered as you move through the garden. A contemporary addition that responds to the architecture and landscape around it, while remaining clearly part of a new era in the home’s story.
Led by Kate Walker Design, with the pool and landscape conceived by Plume Studio and the pool construction delivered by Laguna, the project brings together three experts around one particularly complex brief: respect what has been here for generations while creating something meaningful for the generations who will experience it next.
Combe Martin required a different way of thinking.
For Kate Walker, every new decision had to make sense in the context of the home that was already there. For Heath Blair of Plume Studio, that meant approaching the pool and landscape as a series of spaces to be discovered. For Fiona Maxton of Laguna, it meant understanding how those ideas could be resolved structurally and constructed with the precision the property demanded.
Kate, Heath and Fiona discuss the thinking behind the project, the challenges presented by its heritage context and the value of bringing each discipline into the conversation early.
Traditional English gardens rarely reveal themselves in a single view. They unfold through a sequence of spaces, each with its own character, from formal gardens and parterres to more secluded rooms within the landscape.
That idea informed the design at Combe Martin.
The pool was never intended to dominate the garden. Its position, form and surrounding landscape were conceived to create a sense of discovery, something encountered as you move through the property rather than announced from the moment you arrive.
It is a contemporary intervention, but one deliberately connected to the rhythm and character of the original home.
From excavation and structural preparation through to concrete, finishes and the eventual integration of the surrounding landscape, each stage demands close coordination between the design, the existing heritage site and Laguna’s construction team.
This journal follows the pool as it moves from drawings and engineering into built form, capturing the processes, decisions and craftsmanship that sit behind the finished result.
The landscape at Combe Martin is entering a new chapter, with Laguna officially breaking ground on the pool. Designed to read more as a water feature within the landscape than a traditional swimming pool, its placement, proportions and materiality have all been carefully selected so that it can sit quietly within the garden.
Working closely with Plume Studio, Kate Walker’s design takes its cues from the home’s Interwar architecture, a period in which gardens were increasingly conceived as spaces in their own right. The landscape has been designed to soften the architecture and create a gentler transition between the home and the surrounding garden.
For Laguna, excavation marks the first physical step in translating that design into built form, setting the levels, geometry and structural foundations that will allow the pool to integrate seamlessly with the broader landscape.
A significant milestone on site, and the first real glimpse of the design beginning to take shape.
With excavation complete, the pool within the Combe Martin landscape moves into one of its most important structural stages.
The concrete spray is the point where the proportions and geometry established through the design and engineering process begin to become tangible. Every edge, level and transition needs to be executed with absolute precision, because the structure created here will ultimately determine how the finished pool sits within the landscape.
At Combe Martin, that precision is particularly important. The pool has been designed to feel calm and recessive within the garden, so the construction itself needs to support that restraint rather than compete with it.
This stage brings the design further into built form, with Laguna responsible for delivering the structural accuracy required for the finished pool to read exactly as intended in the vision and drawings.
Laguna works alongside architects, interior designers, landscape designers and builders to deliver custom concrete pools where architecture, landscape and construction need to work as one.
Planning an architecturally considered pool project? Chat to our experienced team.
Discover what drives Laguna – the values and personalised approach behind every project.
Award-winning pools built with purpose – and people – in mind.
Creating spaces with our partners that go far beyond just designing a beautiful pool.
Explore our portfolio of award-winning custom pool and landscape designs to discover the calibre of work we are known for across Melbourne and Victoria.
We collaborate with leading architects and landscape designers, ensuring each pool is considered as part of a cohesive outdoor environment, shaped with purpose for its residents.
Whether you're dreaming of morning laps, lasting memories with family and friends, or an outdoor space that feels like a luxury escape - we're here to help you create a pool that reflects your lifestyle.