Why New Clubhouses Feel Soulless

A club spends millions on a renovation. The photography looks stunning. Six months later, members say it doesn't feel like their club anymore. This episode explores why this happens so predictably and what can be done about it.

The episode examines the specific ingredients that create soul in a clubhouse - patina from materials that age gracefully, the quirks and imperfections that tell a building's story, the accumulated objects that create place attachment, human-scaled spaces sized for everyday use rather than maximum capacity, and the specificity that makes a space belong to one club rather than anywhere.

We discuss why the modern design process works against these ingredients: committee dynamics that favor consensus over character, liability concerns that eliminate charming imperfections, the pressure to showcase "the best" materials that never develop patina, designing for photography rather than lived experience, and aggressive timelines that leave no room for evolution.

The episode also addresses the hotel-ification of private clubs - why borrowing hospitality design language solves the wrong problem and makes spaces welcoming to strangers at the expense of being meaningful to members.

Finally, we explore strategies for building soul intentionally: mapping social rituals before designing rooms, choosing materials that age rather than merely last, preserving imperfection within code constraints, creating space for member accumulation, right-sizing for typical use rather than peak events, resisting the photography trap, and budgeting for post-opening evolution.

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