Asbury Beach Club
There is not a more exciting and beautiful place than where land and ocean meet.
The beach club was designed to be an iconic public structure that activates the beach side of the street as well as providing amenities and services to the beach in this beach town resort in New Jersey. The structure covers two sites. A private lot on the south side and a public lot on the north side. The two sites are developed together to provide a range of experiences. Access easements between the lots and on either end of the site maintain views and access from town to beach.
The form of the structure and skin is not mimetic but is inspired by natural forms. These natural forms arise when the interaction of water, wind, sand and rocks alter the morphology of the earth to create niches, cavities and semi-open spaces interconnecting land and sea.
The cast in place concrete structure provides and elevated pool deck and associated amenities about 15’ above the boardwalk. This is also the zoning height limit on this site. Cast in place concrete columns support the deck and extend onto the north lot to provide a shade canopy with seating and other open public amenities.
The FEMA flood plane limits the base height of the building. The building base on the south lot contains dressing rooms, a sand gym space and private cabanas. There are also public rest rooms and showers on the north side of this building base. These public facilities serve the beach and the shaded lot to the north, integrating the private and public facilities.
A privacy screen along the west side of the building is composed of precast concrete cylinders mounted on a thin steel frame. This screen refers to the ubiquitous beach fencing as well as beach grass found along the entire shore. This precast screen element is full height and extends eight feet above the pool deck on the street side to provide privacy. The precast tubes and steel support taper along the north and east ends until only the thin metal support is left as a railing on the beach side, allowing open views of the ocean.
Reclaimed wood siding provides the enclosure for the lower level cabanas and dressing areas picking up on the materiality of the existing boardwalk.
