The Pole House is an iconic holiday house in Fairhaven, Australia that was originally designed and built in the 1970s by Frank Dixon and has recently gone through a redesign by Franco Fiorentini of F2 Architecture. Already a stunning example of architecture as sculpture, the upgrades have taken the interior spaces to a whole new level of luxury.
The slope the home sits on is steep and falls quickly away from entrance walkway. This sudden drop of the landscape gives the home the appearance of being suspended in mid air, especially from the wrap around terrace.
While not directly on the waterfront, the position of the home is such that the highway below is not visible from inside.
While not the only home on the slope, it is the last in line, which means the home has complete privacy on one side.
The home is positioned diagonally to the entry ramp, and the two sides exposed to the ramp are kept closed and private, while the two sides overlooking the ocean are covered in glazings.
The glazings open wide to the terrace that wraps the home and the terrace features a clear glass safety rail so as not to impede the views.
From inside the home, the social zones have a panoramic 200 degree view of the ocean beyond, including a 50km coastline from the Split Point Lighthouse at Aireys Inlet, rolling hills through the forests of the Otways and – as if this wasn’t enough – there are also nightly displays of the sunset in the West.
Blinds mounted at the top of each window section can be closed for privacy via remote control and the couches in the social zone can recline and stretch at the press of a button. The TV and suspended fireplace are positioned next to each other allowing both to be enjoyed at the same time.
The layout of the home revolved around a curved central core clad in burnt Ash panels. This core hides a central bathroom.
High Tech features within the bathroom include taps with lights hidden in the mouths of the faucets. When the taps are turned on, the coloured lights shine through the streams of water changing from blue with the cold water, to purple as the water warms and finally to red when the water is hot.
The kitchen is located next to the main entry along one of the closed and private walls. The dark woodworking of the cabinetry compliment the stone floor tiles that run throughout the home.
The bedroom is both on a private wall and an exposed wall and features the same dark cabinetry on the headboard wall. The light switches in this room (as well as all the others) have lights that glow to tell you if they are on or off when a hand is waved in front of them.
When the home was built by Frank Dixon, it instantly became a landmark as a concrete gateway to the Great Ocean Road. The recent updates by Franco Fiorentini of F2 Architecture have taken what was an iconic building and turned it into a modern day masterpiece.
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