South Bank - ClubhouseA hinge point in the landscape and community

This building was the last piece of the architectural jigsaw that makes up the South Bank Masterplan. The Clubhouse has varied functions and also acts as the gateway to the wider resort. The brief was complex and included a reception, restaurant, bar, a courtyard dining space with an associated pizza oven structure. All these functions were supported by a substantial commercial kitchen and front and back of house spaces.

We imagined a guest arriving after an arduous trip - most likely from colder climes - and considered how this building should greet you on arrival. We wanted it to be as open as possible; more of a canopy overhead with a fluid interconnection of spaces underneath. As such, we reduced the quantum of enclosed spaces to the absolute minimum and allowed the view on arrival to be focused on the apex of the lagoon, under a canopy of mature gumbo limbo trees with framed view of the aqua marine water beyond.

The accommodation flanking the courtyard faced inwards to the heavily planted dining courtyard, ensuring a serene environment at this busy intersection in the masterplan and framing the activities within supporting various opportunities to gather. Large coralstone paving slabs quarried from the Dominican Republic flows uninterrupted throughout the building, the intricate formation of fossilised corals a perfect material to embed a visitor emotionally into this corner of the Caribbean.