9
Left
Sheltered,
north-facing courtyard.
Design clarity and delicacy have helped win Wardle
plaudits, not least among them his second Robin
Boyd Award. The Bruny Island house on Tasmania’s
east coast earned his first Boyd Award in 2012, and
in 2013 the Fairhaven House on Victoria’s rugged
surf coast brings home the prized double.
Reverence for place is always a fine starting point
for any architect and in this regard he is amongst
the best. Picture walls of Viridian performance glass
are used like lenses high, wide, tall and slender.
Sheet zinc exterior and boat like timber linings
complete a beguiling ensemble.
J
ohn Wardle’s design for the Fairhaven House
is all luminous craft. High on a ridge-line above
Bass Strait, the house is almost an eagle’s eyrie,
often shrouded in ocean mists at a near perfect
elevation and circumstance for para-gliders.
In plan the house forms a long-sided horse-shoe
on the west elevation with a central courtyard open
to the north and protected against southerly blusters
that often sheet from the cliff-face where the Otway
Ranges slide into the sea. More often though the
ocean, cliff and hinterland generate drafts for paragliders who ply the prevailing winds in graceful,
gravity-defying, sweeps and remind us of the spirit
behind this architecture.
GLASS IS QUIETLY SPECTACULAR, DISSOLVING
THE ENVELOPE UNOBTRUSIVELY TO VIEWS
AND LIGHT IN QUITE MAGICAL WAYS.
While the outlook fascinates, the house reflects
Wardle’s intense interest in the natural world. His
preoccupation embraces nature to bespoke chairs
and tables. This Attenborough-like eye ensures an
appreciation of the grand sweep and microscopic.
Modest in size, but not imagination, the house
appears destined for greater things. An early inspiration,
Pierre Chareau’s steel and glass Maison de Verre at
31 Rue Saint-Guillame in Paris, is half a world away
yet resonates at Fairhaven.
The Material Man