The firm was commissioned for a major expansion and renovation of the legendary Surf Club in Surfside, Florida, founded in 1930 by Harvey Firestone as a private membership club. The main challenge of the project was to harmonize the relationship between the existing courtyard typology of the historic Surf Club and the new vertical buildings of the residential and hotel complex surrounding the Surf Club. This is achieved through the careful calibration of architectural proportions, the consistent introduction of natural light throughout the complex, the establishment of visual corridors connecting old and the new buildings, and the purposeful juxtaposition of the modern materials used for new construction with the historic treatment deployed in the renovation of existing Surf Club structures.
The complex is composed of three new buildings harmoniously configured around the historic Surf Club. A new Four Seasons hotel rises from the center of the Club’s original exterior courts, while two 12-story residential buildings located to the North and to the South of the historic Surf Club buildings flank the hotel. The design also incorporates additional programming including a private membership club, two restaurants, four swimming pools, a state-of-the-art spa and fitness center, more than 40 beach cabanas, and an expansive park and oceanside gardens. A series of signature homes and penthouses, ranging in size from 1400 to almost 8000 square feet, offer residents extraordinary views stretching from the Atlantic to downtown Miami.
The Surf Club boasts 965 feet of Atlantic oceanfront on a 9-acre site, and the entire project is organized to maximize the views and recreational opportunities provided by this extraordinary amenity. Three new buildings have been harmoniously integrated into the historic Surf Club architecture through the careful orientation of communal spaces to the surrounding landscapes and waterscapes, culminating in a main courtyard that opens out to the beach and ocean with a swimming pool and a series of water terraces.
