SERENATA BEACH CLUB
( SOUTH PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA )

The centerpiece of the Serenata Beach community, this 25,000 square foot, two-story recreational facility features inside and outside dining, two banquet rooms, three swimming pools, outdoor grill center, a fitness center with locker rooms, game area, and private beach access to one of the most beautiful beaches in Northeast Florida.

The majority of the roof structure was built using pre-fabricated wood roof trusses. The outside dining and walkway areas are framed with rough sawn cedar timbers and a tongue and groove roof decking. Towering over the main dining area is a wood framed “widow’s-walk” that acts as a large clerestory allowing natural light to filter down into the dining area.

The second floor consists of an 8 inch thick cast-in-place, conventionally reinforced, plate slab bearing on exterior masonry walls and interior masonry columns and spans as much as 24 feet in some areas.

The main building is built into the side of an existing sand dune with the west elevation having two stories exposed and the east elevation having one story exposed and one story underground. This “stepped” site allowed for construction of an 11-foot tall waterfall feature that creates the illusion of the upper swimming pool flowing into the lower one. A cast-in-place concrete walkway was built over the waterfall feature to complete the illusion.

The entire project was supported on shallow foundations; however, a detailed scour analysis was performed to determine the bearing depths of the foundations while considering scouring effects from hurricane-induced waves striking the beach.