The Project
Wood + Partners, Inc. was commissioned to provide master planning, detailed design and permitting services to redevelop the Beach Club and Harbour Town's premier resort facilities into a world-class 26,000-square-foot Clubhouse in the Sea Pines Resort on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The clubhouse is home to the PGA Tour's RBC Heritage Tournament.

Harbour Town Golf Clubhouse
The Harbour Town Golf Clubhouse, originally built in the late 1960's, was in need of revitalization. The existing 11,000-square-foot clubhouse simply did not have adequate space, nor the modern amenities required to meet the needs of the tournament or daily use. Plans were drawn to create a world class clubhouse facility with high quality amenities. The Sea Pines Resort began to rebuild this facility, needing to complete construction within a nine-month window between tournaments. Team planners and designers focused on developing a workable timeline to assure that critical dates were met, and the schedule was followed.

 

The new clubhouse is a three-story 26,000-square-foot structure that includes golf cart operations and storage, a pro-shop, locker rooms, club and meeting rooms, restaurants, multi-function meeting space and outdoor spaces for gatherings. In addition to the clubhouse, an adjacent existing conference facility was completely renovated to complement the new clubhouse facility. Wrap-around first and second-story porches and balconies offer panoramic views of the surrounding golf environment and a dramatic axial view of the world famous Harbour Town Lighthouse to the North. Sustainable planning elements included the removal of existing impervious surfaces, which were replaced with pervious parking areas and a golf cart staging area that also functions as the tournament entry plaza and gateway. Locally sourced pavers, beautifully re-purposed barn wood flooring and other materials were used and indigenous, native and drought tolerant plant materials were incorporated with drip irrigation
for landscape beds.

The landscape architects took great care to maximize tree preservation when installing the new clubhouse. Site plans also included careful placement and routing of vehicular circulation and parking, as well as pedestrian and golf cart circulation, tournament entrances, gating and staging areas. The landscape architect served as consultant team leader by coordinating all aspects of site design, civil engineering elements, landscape and hardscape improvements and local plan submittals for permits and approvals. This led to seamless integration of the new clubhouse with minimal impact to its setting.

Architectural and landscape architectural elements were designed to reflect principles, qualities and characteristics envisioned by Sea Pines founder Charles Fraser. Materials such as handmade Savannah Gray brick from Old Carolina Brick Co., tabby paving and bluestone pavers were chosen to complement these principles and the Harbour Town setting. Southern plantings incorporate live oaks and azaleas, native grasses and gently curving pathways and plant beds that reflect the garden style settings well known and cherished throughout Sea Pines and Lowcountry.

Beach Club
Located in the heart of the Sea Pines Resort on 5.2 acres of beachfront property is the newly revitalized World Class, LEED Certified Beach Club facility. The Sea Pines Resort Beach Club has served the community residents and the resort guests for many decades. The resort provides beach access with parking, restrooms, a retail shop, kid camp activities, oceanfront dining and entertainment. But this cherished facility, like many on Hilton Head Island, was in need of revitalization. The original facility had been modified and expanded over the years and included four cabana buildings set in large outdoor deck areas, an open-air bar and outdoor food and beverage areas, a retail shop and real estate offices. The new facility includes a complex of interconnected buildings set in large terraces overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and consists of approximately 16,000-square-feet of conditioned space, and 12,000-square-feet of exterior covered space. Expansions also included Coast, a new restaurant with indoor and outdoor oceanside dinning, an outdoor cabana and bar, expansive outdoor terraces and decks, a central terrace with raised planters. Also, a new series of decks and boardwalks provide two access points to the beach. New features within the beach club include a casual oceanside grill, an upper level event space, retail shops and real estate sales offices, public restrooms, fast casual concessions and an upper level ocean view bar and terraces. These new beach club improvements provide amenities for guests and residents to enjoy for many years to come.

The project involved landscape architects preparing the overall site plans, design, and coordination. The design concepts create a relaxed Lowcountry beachside environment (Lowcountry being a local term for the geographical and cultural region along the coast of South Carolina) that preserves the natural seascape, sand dune edges and native vegetation while offering breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean with open vistas and shaded terraces for visitors to enjoy. The architect's new buildings reflect indigenous forms found throughout Sea Pines including broad porches, cedar shake siding, wood brackets and columns, wood shutters and regionally produced grey brick for the building foundation and pier bases. These materials were used for seat walls, planters and pavers in plazas, vehicular drop off areas and terraces. The two-story buildings are composed of three structures set in open Ipe decks and tabby terraces. The open walkways at the entrance overlooks the Ocean, which strengthens the arrival sequence and enhances the oceanfront sense of place and setting. The team wanted visitors to walk through an open breezeway and covered corridor with visual connections to the Atlantic Ocean upon arrival. The site also includes an enhanced beach access corridor with a wide pathway designed to accommodate bicyclists and pedestrians. Direct access to the Atlantic Ocean and beaches is provided by boardwalks with seating areas and new dune crossover boardwalks. Country Casual Teak helped provide seating in these areas with their benches.

Special attention was given to the provision of convenient shuttle drop off spaces, pedestrian and bicycle pathways, restroom and shower facilities and bicycle parking for hundreds of bikes. Biking areas are paved with crushed Bahama stone from Savannah Hardscapes. This also included bike racks from Playcore's Belson. Efficient and sustainable concepts were used throughout the project which garnered LEED Certification through the U.S. Green Building Council. Re-use of existing materials such as crushed shell pervious paving areas from Wausau Tile were used in parking areas and permeable pavers were used within the drop-off zone. Green initiatives were implemented by accommodating shuttle transportation, bicycle storage, protected and enhanced native vegetation, optimized energy performance, turtle-friendly and low-level night lighting, stormwater control, solar reflective indexing, water efficiency, and the use of recycled and regional materials.

As seen in LASN magazine, June 2020.