‘You wanna know what I think of the Hydra-Klean 2000? It’s a piece of shit, that’s what I think. You can Hydra-Klean my butt and it’ll still stink. But what would I know? I’ve only built thirty-three hundred swimming pools in the Tri-State area over thirty-five years.

A profile of Sydney-based installation artist and sculptor Gary Deirmendjian.

House design can be simple really – or at least it can stem from fundamental ideas. In the case of this house in the upper Hunter Valley, architect Richard Cole explains that his design approach was to create a house for the site as the owners had always used it.

Rob Brown is making a habit of designing well-crafted houses on steeply sloping beach sites. He has previously created award-winning houses around Pittwater to the north of Sydney and a number of south coast residences. For his latest venture he has turned his attention to Stanwell Park.

In this quiet harbourside suburb of Sydney’s lower north shore, the predominant house types are Californian bungalow and mock Tudor. Some are in original condition; many have been “rebranded” to accommodate media rooms, gourmet kitchens and whatever else can be squeezed into the available space.

It’s a bleak and wintry morning when I meet with architect Domenic Alvaro of AKA Studio under a heater at a Darlinghurst cafe. We are transported, via his photographs, to the tropical heat of Wonga Beach in Far North Queensland and to the house he has designed there.