A Private Beach Club

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to design a private beach club that architecturally blends in with its community in terms of scale and appearance. The selected club is located in the Borough of Deal, a wealthy residential community situated on the New Jersey shore between the cities of Long Branch and Asbury Park. The site of the proposed beach club is presently occupied by Phillips Avenue Pavilion, a bath house, which consists of many small rooms used for changing and storing clothing and beach accessories. I propose to remove this structure and replace it with a new facility that will include a ballroom, dining room, club room, and spa. This thesis considers four architectural issues. The first is scale. The proposed beach club should have its own distinctive presence in the community but should neither overwhelm other residences nor appear too small. The second is frontality. A building on the seashore has a public front toward the street and a private front toward the ocean. These fronts pose specific problems of entrance and service locations. The third, beach club imagery, addresses the character of the club compared to other seaside structures of similar appearance and function. The fourth issue is detailing. The construction of the beach club and the detail s of the interior and exterior spaces will be thoroughly examined.