Client: Royal Sydney Golf Club
Completed: 2011
Awards: 2011 Master Builders (NSW) Excellence in Construction Award – Entertainment Buildings
Nominated Architects
Daniel Beekwilder 6192
Andrew Hipwell 6562
63 Myrtle Street
Chippendale NSW 2008
Sydney, Australia
Client: Royal Sydney Golf Club
Completed: 2011
Awards: 2011 Master Builders (NSW) Excellence in Construction Award – Entertainment Buildings
The Royal Sydney Golf Club is much more than its name might suggest. The heritage listed building has been skirted by a long row of grass tennis courts, bowling greens, croquet lawns, as well as the infamous (?) fairways of the golf course itself since the 1930s.
However, by 2005 a need was felt for a fitness centre offering a more modern take on exercise. The Fitness Centre facility includes a 300m2 cardio and weights gym, 25m outdoor pool, heated indoor pool, a café, crèche and ancillary administration and amenities.
The challenge, and the success, of the new fitness centre are in how it interacts with the landscape of the grounds; both in physical connections and in the ethos of a very well-loved traditional architecture. The centre is accessed underground via the lower level of the clubhouse allowing a large entertainment lawn on the landscaped roof of the new gym. The seamless connection of new to old is enhanced by the respectful selection of materials: Bowral bricks, sandstone and oxidised copper. As a result while the architectural language of the new Fitness Centre is unmistakably contemporary, its etymology is clearly in the traditional verse of the Royal Sydney Golf Club.