Gabriel Poole Houses: Poetry in Construction
Edited by Andrew Mackenzie
Foreword by Glenn Murcutt
Available: November 2026
Publisher: Uro Publications
Gabriel Poole Houses: Poetry in Construction is a celebration of the life and work of one of Australia’s most inventive and unfettered architectural talents. Poole’s career began in the 1960s and spanned over half a century. While his work resonated with the cultural, environmental and creative concerns of the time, his lightweight, adaptive and open approach to material use and structural innovation remains highly contemporary and relevant to architectural practice today.
Poole drew deeply from vernacular traditions, yet reinterpreted the classic Queenslander house with an intense focus on lightweight structures and generous spatial strategies. This book brings together a selection of his most innovative houses that are both timely and timeless, embracing permeability and adapting form to climate needs.
Much of Poole’s work is sited within sensitive subtropical ecosystems and, as such responds with low-impact strategies: elevated structures, prefabricated elements and minimal ground disturbance. Projects such as Tent House and Gloster House are are exemplary, each exploring the intersection of enclosure and openness, structure and space, and the careful integration of building and landscape.
Contributors
Glenn Murcutt, Elizabeth Farrelly, Mauro Baracco & Louise Wright, Elizabeth Musgrave, Haig Beck & Jackie Cooper, Tim Bennetton, Bruce Walker, Elizabeth Poole, Lindsay Clare, John Mainwaring, Alex Brown, Peter Hyatt, Andrew Mackenzie.