Located close to Geneva in France, the Golf Club Maison Blanche Clubhouse in Pays de Gex makes the most of its setting, surrounded by the Alps mountain range. When the project emerged, the Golf Club contacted several architects, finally landing on French design firm Byzance Design to realise the project of bringing the outdoors into the Golf Club’s Clubhouse, while respecting the members’ club traditions.

With the Clubhouse located above the golf course, the aim was to exploit as much natural light as possible by opening the walls and adding large windows with views over the golf course and the surrounding mountain ranges. The scheme aimed to be reversed at night, bringing light from the interior to the outside. CEO and Owner at Byzance Design Adrien Slaby specified Studio Italia Design’s fixtures to achieve Byzance Design’s vision of bringing natural lighting design inside the Clubhouse. Slaby commented: “All the interior lightings are from Studio Italia Design as they perfectly responded to our challenge. It was just our favourite design.”

Having first discovered the Italian lighting brand at Fiera Milano, Byzance Design team was sure Kelly pendants and Kelly clusters would provide the ambience they were looking for. “They were stylish. Their lighting design is unusual with the steel painted Kelly dome in a large diameter offering organic shapes that created nice shades of light and shadow.”

The 3m high Kelly suspension cluster with its 35 spheres is impressive in its design, creating a fascinating waterfall of little lighting spheres over the main entrance in the middle of the Clubhouse, providing a visual point of intrigue as guests walk up the stairs.

Differing in style to most other golf clubs, the Maison Blanche Clubhouse hosts a unique timeless design. This presented the challenge of realising a project that would appeal to the majority of the 700 members while contrasting with old-fashioned design of the previous Clubhouse that most of the senior members were fond of. Slaby commented: “We created a cosy-factory interior design aimed at gathering comfort by combining feelings of warmth and relaxation, with a factory/industrial design, that would marry with the surrounding region while integrating the outdoors within our project. We chose materials such as wood, leather club chairs and patchwork coloured carpets to provide the feeling of cosiness, whereas concrete, steel and tin bring in the design factor.”

The combination of the lighting, fabrics, large windows and sliding doors help bring nature inside, resulting in a piece of organic design where those who go to the clubhouse in order to enjoy time spent outdoors playing golf, carry the feeling with them inside.

Considering the requests of not just one client but the voices of the club’s members as well, Byzance Design had a delicate job to do. With careful consideration of the purpose of the club and its relationship to its surroundings, the design team created a delicate balance of old and new, using Studio Italia Design’s lighting fixtures to smooth the blend. Still a club of luxury, Golf Club Maison Blanche Clubhouse is one that will stand the test of time in design and leisure.

www.byzancedesign.com