The Design Concept:

Part 1 – The Submission:  Politi Architecture defines their architecture as a comprehensive relationship between, The built environment, landscape, engineering, and art. This interconnection, as well as collaboration between different disciplines brings a clarity into the design concepts, allowing for a poetic way of taking the building’s program, site, and use of materials to create a series of spatial compositions not only defining the interior spaces, but creating the overall form of a building. This relationship between the interior and exterior not only enhances the singular structure, but the entire built environment around it.

Our goal for Amsterdam Municipal Golf Course will be to create “The Pavilion in the Garden” an open-air structure that seamlessly merges with the natural landscape. The structure will capture views of the site, as well as being an elegant view within the site. 

By studying and understanding Mr. Jones design philosophy, as well as the design philosophy of Politi Architecture. We are not simply making a building… to make a building - but continuing a rich story of American history, as well as respecting for the environment to design a beautiful place that can be enjoyed by all. 

Part II – Studio Analysis:  Based on Mr. Jones design philosophy - “Follow the land, follow the land.”  And a photo showing a decaying log in the field both became the inspiration for The New Clubhouse.   

Organic form, dark colors, and the random spaces seen within the log became the key features embodied with the New Clubhouse.  This ambiguity between open or close… inside or outside… and dark or light develops the rich dialog between the spatial experiences.  

Mr. Jones and the other great golf course architects who came before him would want us to do our utmost to enhance their concept that a golf course grows out of the land.  I took this concept to allow the New Clubhouse to do the same.  When looking back at the New Clubhouse one should simply see the silhouette of a building surrounded by a beautiful landscape…. like an object found in the woods.  The landscape design would be enhanced by the contrast of the Clubhouse dark color. 

Inside – by referencing the found log, there would be a variety of spatial experiences showcasing the play with human scale as well as natural light. The use of materials would be a key component within the design.  A dialog between smooth to rough and from opaque to transparent.  All this playfulness would lead to critical openings within the building - to capture elegant views of the golf course from within the clubhouse. 

Finally, I believe architecture is composed in many ways like a story.  A story in which the author may or may not tell you the entire story.  In architecture, the best composed story are the ones open ended.  Allowing the viewer to experience the composition of spaces in their own terms. To connect-the-dots between the built environment, nature, and their own experience.