A committee of one: Lost Dunes' designers faced a small, but formidable, design challenge.

Quite often the architects who design private club clubhouses have their work cut out for them before they ever set about putting pencil to paper or CAD to computer. They have to spend, time, money, and mental agony in the arduous task of helping the general manager to sell the board and membership on prying open the club's checkbook. Or they are handed a fait accompli--a budget and a set of parameters--and told to make them match.

When Chicago based architect John Chipman's firm landed their first club project, it was a dream assignment. They did have to satisfy a committee. But that committee was comprised of one individual who already knew and valued Chipman's firm's abilities. The result was an award-winning, but surprisingly low-cost clubhouse at Lost Dunes Golf Club in Bridgman, MI.

Chipman's firm, Chipman Adams Ltd., was founded in the early '50s by Chipman's father, Al-bert Chipman. John joined his dad in 1979 and Daryl Adams came aboard shortly afterward. The company made an early commitment to computer-based design technology. In the raid '80s, a fledgling company called Blockbuster Video commissioned them to design stores for the Midwest market. Soon, Chipman Adams was designing Blockbuster facilities around the world.

It was through this relationship that the partners met Jeff Shearer, one of Blockbuster's original founding executives. Shearer, who began his career as a waiter and political science major, went on to help grow the Bennigan's and Steak and Ale franchises before helping to start Blockbuster. Leaving Blockbuster, he helped to found the Boston Market restaurants, and he brought Chipman Adams aboard as his designers.

The design firm continued to hone its sense of cost-effective quality by working nationally for clients like McDonald's, IHOP, and Dunkin' Donuts, as well as one-off high style restaurant venues.

Meanwhile, the club market was beckoning. Client Shearer had decided, "You kind of get a 'settle down' message when you get a letter from American Airlines congratulating you on flying three million miles," and had planted roots in Chicago. In 1992 he purchased a summer home near Bridgman, MI and soon acquired the 252 acres that would become the site of Lost Dunes.

Located about 70 miles from Chicago, the site was an abandoned sand quarry that had produced a special grade of sand used to cast engine blocks in Detroit. It was overgrown and laced with ponds. Rejecting offers from developers who wanted to build homes on it, Shearer hired course architect Tom Doaks, who is noted for his respect for the natural environment. Shearer's instruction to Doak was simple: "Don't disturb the land. Just make it look beautiful. "Watching the land come to life. that was the fun," Shearer told the Chicago Tribune Magazine. That "fun" did not come cheap. Shearer poured a total of $12 million into Lost Dunes. "I like to think that God and I own this course, but he hasn't come up with any of the money," Shearer said.

All About Golf

While the golf course is challenging and beautiful enough to have been named the number three private course in the country by Golf Digest in 1999, the year it opened, the clubhouse is starkly and eloquently functional--reflecting both its surroundings and its purpose. "No pool, no tennis," Shearer told the Tribune. "This is all about golf, not some 'Hey, what's the next theme party?' country club."

When John Chipman and Daryl Adams received this plum assignment, the partners did not assume--as some designers entering the field do--that because they knew hospitality design they understood the functional operations of a private club. With over two decades of design experience each, the pair decided to go back to school.

They attended Harvard University's course on clubhouse design. "During the course we had a design charette (an intensive design competition where the participants are given a problem to solve). My partner and I went back to our hotel room and over a bottle of wine produced the winning design."

After that affirmation of their feel for the issues involved, the pair set off on their own Grand Tour of clubhouses. They visited the Kohler Club in Wisconsin and a number of clubhouses in Florida, discussing with the managers what did and didn't work and why.

For Lost Dunes, "We decided on the feel a Four Seasons hotel," Chipman said. The 20,000 square foot clubhouse is constructed as "a lodge wood structure--all natural materials including stone columns, tumbled-limestone flooring, pine ceilings, and custom designed carpeting."

The clerestory entrance lobby focuses on a monumental two-sided stone fireplace. Custom-designed fixtures with an Arts and Crafts feel by Brass Lights Fixtures of Milwaukee are suspended from the trusses.

The clubhouse includes a mixed grill, lounge, and dining room; an outdoor deck and patio dining; well-appointed locker rooms with spa facilities; and a pro shop. The lower level of the clubhouse contains heated golf care storage and service facilities.

Lost Dune's clubhouse is designed to be easy to operate. Because of his years in the food business, Shearer wanted both efficiency and service for the members (he has been known to pitch in around the kitchen when the club is hosting tournaments). Extremely exclusive in its membership (200 members maximum, $50,000 initiation, admitted by a one-person membership committee), Lost Dunes only hosts about 10,000 rounds a year. "On a typical day it takes only three people to operate the clubhouse, outside of kitchen staff," Chipman said. The bartender brings the food and the receptionist and pros run the pro shop."

Overnight Guests

The clubhouse is sited and oriented not only to provide spectacular views of the greens and adjacent lake, but also to be a primary focus of those entering the site from the private drive. The challenge was to blend the clubhouse, site work, and parking lots with the natural surroundings and give an appearance of longstanding permanence. Cut fieldstone and rough-sawn cedar exterior materials were chosen to complement the palette of the surrounding sand dunes and provide easy maintenance.

Because there were no utilities on the site and because of the environmentally-protected nature of large areas of it, the location of the clubhouse had to be carefully chosen. Members of the club are typically wealthy Chicagoans. "You can leave downtown in the morning, play a round, and be back in Chicago by 5 p.m.," Chipman said. "A lot of members have weekend homes here." For those who don't want to stay overnight or invite guests, the club has three guest buildings located on the back side of the course. "Each cottage has four bedrooms and a great room, which is shared," Chipman said. "They're like min-hotels." Other ancillary facilities at Lost Dunes also include a driving range, starter's station, and a maintenance facility.

Work on the course began in 1997. Design work on the clubhouse began in early 1998. Construction was completed in 1999. The project came in at $3.8 million including furnishing, fixtures, and equipment, or $190 per square foot. That year it won a design merit award from the American Institute of Architects. "We used local contractors in the area," Chipman said. "There's a lot of really wonderful craftsmanship put together. It's held up really well and we're really proud of it."

Besides the accolades it has received in the press, the clubhouse has proven popular with members--and with the "facilities committee."