6
Vision Magazine
ONCE THE
SEMI-ENCLOSED
MODEL OF SUBURBIA
ON A STICK, THE
NEW VERSION IS THE
GLASSY PAVILION
WITH SHTICK.
Right
House thrusts towards ocean
while disguising the cinematic
surprise to the south.
Prima Donna
T
he Pole House at Fairhaven on Victoria’s Great
Ocean Road is a landmark structure in any
language. Politically incorrect in almost every
way, it is the triumph of audacity over courtly good
manners. It’s the structural exclamation mark with a
grin. In some people’s eyes its rude and crude. For
others it’s the welcome rule-breaker.
It emerged in the mid-1970s as a stunning climax
on a treacherous, unstable site. Born again with more
glass and sharp technology, its recent transformation
fully capitalizes on a peerless vantage point.
Once the semi-enclosed model of suburbia
on a stick, the new version is the glassy pavilion
with shtick. Forget ideas of anonymity, here is the
extroverted breeze-catcher and sun-baker revealed to
the world. Part fishbowl on a pedestal, the effect isn’t
purely vanity. It commands magisterial views east and
west as far as the eye can see, which in this instance
happens to be a very long way.
Architect Franco Fiorentini knew tampering with
iconoclastic design was to tempt fate. Plenty of great
work has been brought to its knees in the name of
home improvements and he was in no mood to trash
his own good name in the process.
The original pole house initially attracted scorn
with its rocket-like construction that seemed to fly in
the face of planning regulations. The house gradually
settled in the psyche of travelers like an old friend
and as an unofficial exclamation mark to usher in the
Great Ocean Road.
News some six years ago that the house faced redevelopment aroused fears that its eccentricity could
be lost. Perched 15metres above its vertiginous ridge
position, the pole house is the house that could never
be built today. Height restrictions would see such an
idea shot out of the sky.