The Visionary
ROGER FERRIS, 50
Designing the clubhouse of the future at the Bridge, on Long Island

"My architecture firm (Roger Ferris
+ Partners) does projects from
Hong Kong to London: banks,
museums, homes. But when we
were commissioned to build the
clubhouse for The Bridge, on the
east end of Long Island, I looked at
the land — perched on a hill with
280-degree views of water — and
I gulped. I said, 'This site is so
spectacular, I can only screw it up.'
Then I saw it as an opportunity, a way to echo how golf has
evolved and become more stylish. A clubhouse is a chance
to be inventive, to build on a vast, green landscape. You
can't do that in London or Manhattan. Instead of
mimicking classic designs, like Shinnecock's, we went for
something current, high-tech, Zen. What we created is
sustainable, open and naturally cooled. From above, it
looks like the golf swing, with a nexus as the core, and a
'blade' — a section of the building — that appears thrown
out, like a club moving along the swing plane. It was a risk,
but if you don't take risks, you don't achieve anything. One
member said, 'It looks like a spaceship!' But they came
around. Now they say, 'This is the house I always wanted
but never had the nerve to build.'"

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