cascading
waterfalls and bridges!”
Whether in the comfort of the posh
second-story restaurant or the outdoor dining balcony, visitors
can gaze across
a 270 degree panoramic view of the rolling
golf course. In fact, the city of Taylor requested a view
of the course as an integral aspect of the building’s
design. According to James Riddle, executive director of golf,
parks and recreation for Taylor, the stipulation was that
customers would always have a view of the course no matter
where they were in the clubhouse. Riddle served as the city’s
project manager for Lakes of Taylor. “Yes, this is the
new standard for development in Taylor but there is no reason
why a government building can’t be a leader in creating
community standards.” he said. “Although it gives
the impression of being expensive and elaborate, it really
isn’t. It’s very functional and exactly what we
needed for the type of operation we had in mind.”
According to Riddle, the popular facility is actually cost-effective
and is paying for itself as intended. The initial market surveys
indicated a demand for over 150 golf outings each year (a
number they have in fact achieved) and a large banquet room
which would be needed to handle the post-event gatherings.
Riddle explained this cost-effective aspect further by pointing
out that the club-house is big because it includes a cart
storage area and houses the city’s golf operations administrative
offices. He said that other municipal golf facilities would
probably have built separate structures for those needs. “So
after reading the market surveys, which indicated that user
fees would strongly support a golf course,
we decided to build a standard bearer for Taylor,” said
Riddle. “Already the effect is being felt as several
developers are planning to build upscale residential areas
nearby and the engineering firm, Wade-Trim, has begun building
their new world headquarters next to the Lakes of Taylor.”
This clubhouse is actually part of a complex of buildings
that includes structures adjacent to the golf course. Buildings
in this complex, designed for the city of Taylor by the architectural
firm Yops and Wilkie, include the golf course maintenance
facility, department of public works building and an animal
shelter. Yops and Wilkie has designed many municipal projects
for Taylor including a smaller clubhouse at Taylor |
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another city-owned course. All structures in this group
were created with matching designs using wood and brick.
“This not only gives a consistent harmonious look
to the complex but the wood and brick really fit with
the desired style of the building,” said Zanley.
“It has real cedar shingles and cedar is a very
durable wood. The horizontal striping in the brick emphasizes
the horizontal line of the clubhouse and keeps it from
being just a mass of brick.” The bottom layer
of masonry is split-face concrete block while the upper
layer of light brown brick is highlighted by iron spot
red/brown bricks. Each of the out buildings and the
bridges were also designed with the same architectural
details and materials so as to match the clubhouse.
Even the venting cupolas are clad in cedar and this
same cupola design appears on all of the out buildings.
Using rubber pavers over a standard membrane roof allowed
them to utilize the roof space for an outdoor terrace
restaurant yet not damage the membrane roof.
The interior decor includes stained white oak wood trim
with spike-resistant carpet throughout the facility.
“The challenge with that type of carpet is keeping
the pattern straight,” said Jim Everlove, president
of Ideal Floor Covering. “This project called
for an intricate pattern and we had to meticulously
stretch the carpet to insure the pattern lined up precisely.”
The Rochester-based company also installed a special
spike-resistant rubber flooring in the clubhouse pro
shop. The magnificent elevated banquet facility with
a gas fireplace and panoramic view of the course is
available for wedding receptions, retirement parties
or any special celebration and can seat up to 300. But
with moveable ceiling-to-floor partitions, it can also
be arranged for smaller groups. The ground-level patio,
that includes a permanent outdoor barbecue, is open
in the afternoon and evenings. The clubhouse bar has
modern equipment yet exudes a cheery ambience. Able
to seat 100 people, it features an etch-glue oak bar
with slate tile facing, slate tile window sills and
a quarry tile floor.
At the Lakes of Taylor clubhouse, slate tile was also
used around the fireplaces. This tile gives a look that
isn’t seen much in these modern times, but it
certainly contributed to achieving the design goal of
a classic country club appearance. "We put in two
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Heatilator brand flush front fireplaces,” said
Mike Wood of Williams Panel Brick. “With this
model you get the convenience and energy efficiency
of a pre-fab fireplace, but it can also have the look
of a masonry fireplace.” Wood said this type of
fireplace is extremely popular and that Williams Panel
Brick, which handles both commercial and residential
projects, has been installing around 150 units a week!
Some fireplaces have a front grill for circulating air
and thus can’t be covered. But the black metal
facing of the Heatilator can be left as is or covered
with a finish facing material.
With three restaurants, a bar, the banquet room and
occasional outdoor tent parties to serve, it is possible
that the Lakes at Taylor kitchen may have to feed as
many as 1000 people at the same time. The task of devising
a super- efficient kitchen that could handle such a
workload was assigned to W.L.O. and Associates, a Howell-based
company that specializes in designing kitchen facilities
for clubhouse, institution and corporate use. A newly-developed
type of cooking device, called a combi-oven steamer,
was installed. It can prepare large bulk quantities
of meat, poultry and vegetables. That allows the chefs
to prepare a lot of food in advance and yet insure that
it
is hot, fresh and tasty when delivered to the customer.
“A major problem we had to avoid was cross-contamination
since there would be soiled dinnerware coming in from
many sources,” said Walter Olszewski, the principal
owner of W.L.O. “So we designed a “landing
area” to handle incoming soiled dinnerware and
also keep the employees from stumbling over each other
as they move in and out.” During both the design
and construction phases, Olszewski and his staff gathered
comments and suggestions from the chefs and managers
who would be working in the kitchen.
All that cooking requires serious ventilation and W.L.O.
and Associates chose a compensating exhaust system.
“The standard code is that if you take out 6000
cfm (cubic feet per minute) you have to bring all that
air back in to maintain pressure. If it’s cold
or hot you have to get
it back to room temperature,” said Olszewski.
“With a compensating system, you only have to
heat and cool half the amount of incoming air. This
will save Lakes at Taylor thousands each year on heating
and air conditioning costs." The company
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