E
mpires thrive by absorbing and including others. This is true
in many ways, and very evident in art. Romans strove to
exemplifyandthenoutdotheirforebearsincivilization,the
Greeks. The ways in which the American cultural imperium
buildsonBritishrootsisrevealed–atadistance–byarecenthouse
onacoastalheadlandintheOtwaysinsouthernVictoria.Inanera
inwhichalmosteveryoneoftheheadlandsonourislandcontinent
seems doomed to be surmounted by an overblown ranch house, it
is significant that one dream house inspires such reflection. The
reflection arises because architect Ben Milbourne based his design
on the classical model of a square divided three ways into nine equal
subsquares:“...mathematical,abstract,foursquareandwithout
apparentfunction,andtotallymemorable...”wroteColinRowe
inhisseminalessayonthepersistenceofthisfigurefromAndrea
Palladio through to Le Corbusier (“The Mathematics of the Ideal
Villa,” 1947).
Ben,thefoundingdirectorofBildArchitecture,floateda
nine-squareplanontothedunes,elevateditsdivisionsinglass
andthendraggedthecontrollingpointofaroofextrusioninto
onecorner.Theresultisanintriguinghybridbetweentwomodels.
Ben’sdesigntreatsthedunesoftheheadlandaswavesandthe
squarefloorandbasementplinthasaraftbreastingthesewaves.This
is very much in the steady manner of Rowe. His roof, however, is
inspiredbyPeterEisenman,when,aimingtooutdotheBrits,he
designedFind’OuTHouSandtiltedthegridintotheground.
Thoseintentondiscoveringitsmaintainedsymmetriesmust
(conceptually) bury their heads in the sand and look upward. The
simple expression of power has become a parlour game for those in
the know. Nudge, nudge.
InBen’smindthenudgeliesintheindependentresolutionof
theroof.Forhim,thisreferstothewayHansScharounfloatsthe
formsofhisconcerthallinBerlinaboveasteadygroundplane.The
simple sandwich of planes used by Mies at the New National Gallery
(1968) next door is rejected. Milbourne set his team the challenge of
finding the roof extrusion system that best suited the spaces being
nurtured below, and the office explored ten options, subjecting each
to ten design tests. Three of the seven-by-seven-metre squares along
onefacetransitfromtheentrancespacetoasnugwrappedaround
afireplace,andthenontoadining/kitchen.Twosquarestoeach
side of this contain bathrooms and bedrooms. The central, unroofed
square is a courtyard and the final square is a swimming pool.^02
02 The roof profile carefully
modulates space within,
offsetting the potentially
overwhelming effect of a
panoramic glass house.
