LUXE - CLUBHOUSE
US$60 / HK$350
228 pages • Eng / Chi
size : 283 x 292mm •
hard cover • color
ISBN: 978-962-7723-41-7
Order form: http://www.beisistudio.com/Site/Home_files/order-BeisiBooks.pdf
The concept of the clubhouse is not new. In many countries around the world, the clubhouse is where like-minded people go to socialise, relax, enjoy meals, conduct business, entertain, and, to put it broadly, live. Typically centred on a leisure activity such as golf or tennis, clubhouses were a way of life for the privileged that don’t mind paying expensive joining fees and annual dues to have a place to call their own. In developing or colonial countries, clubhouses were how expatriates survived being in a foreign land. They became much more than places to spend leisure time — in many cases, they were sanctuaries that encapsulated home away from home.
The idea of the residential clubhouse began with Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus movement of the early 20th century. In Berlin’s Bauhaus Archive Design Museum, entire mock-ups of shared facilities such as a swimming pool, gym, work and lounge areas are on display, conceived as early as the 1920s. Gropius believed that the Industrial Revolution would spawn household equipment that could free up leisure time for all classes. Le Corbusier, by extension, saw future global population increases necessitating the migration to high-rise residences in burgeoning cities, where everyone would share common leisure facilities. During a time when the majority of Europeans lived in individual houses and occupations were primarily agricultural, this was radical thinking. 90 years onwards, Gropius and Le Corbusier’s visions were completely realised halfway around the world, in the new towns and cities of China.
Hong Kong could be called the birthplace of the residential clubhouse. Waves of mainland Chinese swelling the city’s population during the Cultural Revolution meant that the tiny, hilly island’s architecture had to shoot skywards. Two or three generations became used to living in as little as 10 square metres, which was what most of the public housing estates offered. Communal living is part of Chinese culture, and the courtyard house where multiple generations lived in one compound was the standard residential type in the country. Developments in Hong Kong catered to this extended family concept by offering potential buyers apartments with as many bedrooms in as little space as possible. Today, even in new developments, flats at 50 square metres are listed as a three bedroom, with each bedroom no more than 8 square metres.
As they prospered, Hong Kong residents began to expect more. And savvy developers began to deliver value-added benefits, to differentiate their properties. To extend the living space of each family, they began to offer clubhouses designed right within the residential complex for homeowners’ exclusive use. These shared facilities mean that residents could exercise, dine, entertain, amuse their children and socialise, all without having to step outside their building. For most people, the residential clubhouse is the only place where they have a chance to meet their neighbours, with long work hours cutting into precious time at home. Clubhouses began to reflect the culture and corresponding budget of the development’s brand while offering facilities to supplement the neighbourhood’s existing infrastructure.
SWD has been working with Hong Kong and China’s leading residential developers for more than a decade. It is one of the few design firms that has carved a niche for itself in clubhouse design. The discipline borrows a little from hospitality design, as clubhouses have to have a wow factor, yet not be easily dated. It has a bit of residential design, as guests are frequent and repeat users that expect a clubhouse to be an extension of their homes. Clubhouse design has to contain durable, low maintenance materials typically found in fast food outlets, since small children will be playing within them. At the same time, they also may have areas that rival the finest restaurants or spas that the city has to offer.
TABLE of CONTENTS
08 The Grandiose
君傲湾
26 Radcliffe
靖林
36 The Grand Gateway
港汇花园
54 Ivy on Belcher's
绿意居
64 31 Robinson Road
罗便臣道31号
86 The Harbourside
君临天下
106 Regency Park
御翠园
136 Mount Davis 33
怡峰
150 Noble Hills
逸翠庄园
172 Les Saisons
逸涛湾
184 New Haven
名逸居
196 The Greenwich
逸翠园
