Considerations of form begain with considerations of climate and orientation as well as of ideas of water and the game of golf. An initial study suggested the form: a spiralling series of chambers descending to a dark sheen of water reminiscent of a sea shell, holding the voice of the sea or of an inner ear. A series of lines were pulled across from the yard markings of a football field running along the south edge of the site.

 

The water flow was considered both in a model and in simple sketches. Planes would drain water towards the golf course and two swales would embrace it, defining its wider structure.

 

The circular spirals of the first sketch were formalised using a system resulting from the vertical lines that provide the measure across the football field and a series of steadily increasing circles who take their metre from musical notes: the first circle of the detention basin is 40 feet, the second is eighty and the final measures 160 feet wide. Points of intersection between them became potential holes and defined the nature and quality of the enclosure.