It’s about so much more than just picking out fancy new equipment.
If creating a state-of-the-art modern residential building, hotel fitness facility (or home gym), were as easy as picking out the latest equipment, anyone could do it. That’s the problem. Often times building and property owners and managers and many personal trainers think that shopping for the latest equipment and painting a room is all that it takes, but as properties vie for business, only the top facilities, designed by seasoned professionals make the cut. Many architectural firms also claim to be experts in fitness facility design, but fitness architecture, industrial engineering, ergonomics, interior design and equipment selection is a highly specialized niche.Creating or refurbishing a great state of the art fitness facility for either a hotel or residential building requires expertise in several disciplines. 1) Expertise and knowledge of fitness, fitness equipment, fitness center management, fitness training, fitness ergonomics, fitness branding, fitness marketing, fitness industry knowledge, and the business of fitness. 2) Expertise and knowledge of fitness facility architecture, fitness facility industrial engineering, fitness facility interior design, fitness products, vendors and services, fitness utilities and technology, fitness facility and spa materials, lighting, sound, surfaces, construction, contracting, expediting, sourcing, and project management. 3) Expertise and knowledge of fitness facility sales, business development, strategy and economics.
doing the math
“If creating a state-of-the-art modern residential, hotel fitness gym, office facility (or home gym), were as easy as picking out the latest equipment, anyone could do it”
Example: Here is an example we like to use to emphasize the breadth of thinking and planning that goes into developing a great fitness facility.Client question:Should we offer a sprinting track in our corporate gym? There seems to be room.Follow up questions:How many people will be using the facility? How many people are interested or currently sprinting?How large is the overall space? Follow up answers:Would expect to have 200 members, but only 75 active members (People who will regularly use the facility).
There are 20 “runners” (people who seriously run. Not just participate in cardio during their workouts).5 people would be considered “hard core” runners and want to incorporate sprints into their routine.
Here is where it gets interesting. The overall / actual space is 800 square feet. The actual useable space after all equipment, flow, code, and planning requirements have been addressed is 550 square feet. Of the space, 500 square feet are designated with equipment or “use”. Let’s pause a moment.
Why has 550 square feet already been designated? 550 square feet has been designated by priority to the greater good and the overall requirements of the facility or business. This has been done in order to both provide for the 200 members, the 75 active members, the perceived value of the facility itself, and the actual value of the facility as a product / service.So only 50 square feet “may” be available for sprinting or other, but does it make sense to do so?The minimum width of the track would be 36”, but that’s tight, especially if one side is along a wall, near equipment or a walking path (which is highly probable in a small studio layout), so 42” would be more appropriate. Then of course this space does not account for entering or exiting the track. So purely based on the raw numbers of the track itself, a 3.5’ wide track would have a maximum length of no more than 14’.
Keep Digging
Let’s keep digging. A top sprinter is likely to have a stride length of 1.35 times his height in meters. One-meter equals 39.37 inches. So, for a 6-foot-tall person, that's 1.8 m times 1.35 for a stride length of 2.5 m. That translates into a stride length of 98.42 inches. Using this calculation, a 6’ tall sprinter would get less than 2 strides from a 14’ length track once in full stride. This doesn’t account for the time it takes to get up to maximum speed, which would be more than 14’ or the time it would take to slow down or decrease speed before hitting an object (wall).So from a purely physical planning and physiological / bio-mechanical perspective a sprinting track does not make sense in this space. Let’s look at the idea from a purely economic perspective.If rent in this building, in this case New York City, is $55.00 sq. ft.(actually a great price), then the price for this area of space costs roughly $230.00 per month. So even if the track were possible, the cost per month for 5 people would be $230.00 per month versus $2,292.00 per month for 200 members. OR 5 people would account for 10% of the overall cost of the rent, but only make up .025% of the members. So purely from an economic perspective this plan would not make sense.From a time and use of space perspective:5 people using 9% of the total useable space for an average of only 5 – 7.5 hours of time per week.There are many other variables involved in designing and building a fitness facility, but this is just an example of the many complexities and the thinking that goes into the development of a state of the art hotel, residential building fitness gym, office studio or even home gym.
“The difference between usable space and available space"
.-PT|HAX™ YANNITTE Fitness Planning & Design. An Archimedes Innovations LLc Company. ©2003-2022.(Fitness Studio Design. Both Perceived and Actual Value). www.PTHAX.FITNESS
Comments