A new luxury clubhouse just west of Austin, Texas, is the latest high-profile hospitality project by three, the acclaimed national architecture firm renowned for creating memorable emotional connections through design. The addition of the dynamic amenity and event space is part of the $45 million renovation of Horseshoe Bay Resort – one of the largest golf resorts in the country – which is nearing completion after two years of work on its hotel, golf courses and facilities, dining venues, and meeting spaces.

Designed by three, the new luxe Cap Rock Members Club – Clubhouse capitalizes on expansive views of the hill country and Robert Trent Jones, Sr.-designed golf courses at the resort. Working in partnership with landscape architect Coy Talley of Talley Associates, three has conceived the Cap Rock site as a destination complex, says the firm’s principal and senior designer, David C. Fowler, AIA, NCARB. The experience comprises four separate buildings that together offer Horseshoe Bay Resort members an array of improved amenities, anchored by its main clubhouse with a dining room and bar area, a swimming pool, and two golf buildings. A celebratory opening event is in planning for later in 2019.

This major commission for the popular Horseshoe Bay Resort represents the latest win for three, known for their expertise in boutique hospitality and country club projects that “elevate client properties to a new level of luxury.” Most recently, the firm completed The Cellars at Pearl, a complex of high-end loft residences in San Antonio, Texas, which local developers have described as “unprecedented for both its quality and price point.”

Other upscale, market-leading developments by three include the award-winning Hotel Emma, credited for anchoring the burgeoning growth in downtown San Antonio.

“The Cap Rock Members Club – Facilities are designed with every last detail in mind, starting with the guest’s arrival,” says Fowler. “Our work at three is always grounded in the principle of creating spaces that inspire a sense of wonder.”

With this goal in mind, three re-sculpted the entry sequence, transforming a parking lot into a winding drive lined with Texas Oaks and offering glimpses of panoramic views framed by the new buildings, capturing the essence of the Cap Rock site in the heart of the Hill Country. Set on an outcropping interspersed with car-sized boulders, the main clubhouse building faces southwest maximizing sunset viewing for guests enjoying the restaurant, bar area and decks. The design draws in sunlight and outdoor scenery with slender roof openings and gently angled floor-to-ceiling windows. Three large rock-spire sculptures separate the entry, bar area, and dining room, all with fireplaces.

“Everything traveling golfers value is found here in a truly distinct and elevated presentation,” said Bryan Woodward, Horseshoe Bay Resort’s managing director. “The investment we have put into these renovations has elevated the quality of our golf to a national level and has made the overall golf experience more fun for our guests.”

Other amenities of the development include a golf pro shop, a pool building featuring men’s and women’s locker rooms along with a bar with grille kitchen, and a golf pavilion for events — with modern glass overhead doors to create a seamless transition from indoors to outdoors. Texas Lueders Limestone, a native charcoal-gray stone wraps all of the clubhouse buildings, complementing the existing vegetation and rock outcroppings. Other materials used for the soft-modern design include clear-coated exposed structural steel and stained wood ceilings to imbue the clubhouse with warmth and regional character.

The sprawling, 7,000-acre Horseshoe Bay Resort offers 400 guestrooms, suites and condominiums, views of scenic Lake Lyndon B. Johnson, and four championship golf courses designed by World Golf Hall of Fame members Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jack Nicklaus. A spa and health club and several restaurants round out the resort’s attractions. With the addition of the Cap Rock Members Club – Golf and Pool Amenities, resort members and guests enjoy an expanded, luxurious experience that aims to captivate the next generation of resort members from the nearby Austin community.