With people becoming more health-conscious individuals, the current location of gyms has become mandatory places for healthy living rather than hobby areas. For this reason, gyms should provide effective service to users with maximum capacity and ensure to attract more people to their bodies. In the gym, first of all, a design is required in which the user can feel comfortable and safe. After Covid-19, terms such as healthy space and healthy ventilation repeat themselves a lot in our lives. In these areas, where many people create intense air circulation during the day, healthy ventilation systems should also be paid attention to.
LOCATION
Attention should be paid to the location of the gym. Why?
Difficulties with transportation to the gym can negatively affect the level of preference. In the location selection, the surrounding user audience data and transportation network data should be reviewed. In our country, where social life flows rapidly, it is important to design a space suitable for the lifestyles of the users. In order to increase the preference in this area, a location should be selected that is easily accessible to users. For example, it is observed that the number of users in gyms that are close to large-capacity residential areas (preferably providing transportation on foot, which attracts the user more) is quite high in the long term. Before choosing a location for your gym, you should research if "sport" could be connected functionally to the environmental data in that area. Considering that the location you will choose is a long-term investment for your facility, your business needs to choose a location that has the potential to survive and expand in the coming years.
USER PROFILES
Another item that should be considered before starting the gym interior architectural design is the user profiles. Since the gym equipment and capacities will vary according to the user audience, the analysis of these elements should be carried out in detail before starting the design. The necessary analyzes should be made about the location of the gym and its surroundings, potential user profiles, and the data should be examined. Space designs, equipment selections, and special classes that will attract users, even more, themselves can be offered within the gym according to the factors such as gender, age, economic status, social position, etc.
EQUIPMENT QUALITY
The equipment in the gym is under heavy load or force due to its functions. If we add to this other factors such as, that many people will use this equipment during the day, it is important to offer quality options in the selection of equipment at the design stage. To ensure that the equipment is in ergonomic shapes and materials that will not adversely affect the physical health of the users and that the user is in the correct position during the physical movements, it should be ensured that specific equipment-to-specific movement is selected.
HYGIENIC AREAS
After the Covid-19 pandemic, the concepts of hygiene-cleanliness-health have gained a more important meaning in our lives. Due to the movements made in these gyms, which many people will use during the day, the air circulation in the environment can become polluted quickly. For this reason, in-air circulation should be mentioned first of all here.
Ventilation systems that clean the air circulation in the environment and ensure continuous access to fresh air in enclosed spaces should be recommended. If there is an external facing and natural ventilation option in the gym, natural ventilation systems should be solved as a priority, and in case of in-environment insufficiency of these systems, assistance should be obtained from other ventilation systems.
Another thing that should be considered in cleaning is the cleaning of in-environment equipment. As we mentioned before, many people use gym equipment during the day. Equipment, floor-wall-ceiling materials, coatings, paints, etc. should be selected from the categories that are easy to clean and prevent the development of microbes and bacteria to prevent the spread of microbes and bacteria in the environment.
IN INTERIOR ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
There are several interior architectural touches that you can make in your gym design to reflect your signature and create a pleasant, but also effective sports experience for users. For example;
The Use of Mirrors; The use of mirrors is quite common in gyms, both to make the space look bigger and more spacious space than it is and for users to closely monitor their physical development. The fact that users see themselves, as well as other people who work, is a method that can support them psychologically. That is why it is often seen in gyms that a certain wall is covered with a mirror throughout its length.
In the selection of intra-ambient tissues, attention should be paid to the qualities of physical exercise. For example, in dead-lift areas where weights are lifted, if you think that the weights fall hard, that hard-flat floor application will wear out over time. In these areas, finishing materials that will absorb the damage of sudden load should be considered. In addition, soft floor coverings stand out in gyms for the ergonomics of users. This is because these floor coverings leave more positive results on the user.
FUNCTIONAL AREAS
Exercises performed in gyms can be of different categories. To ensure the physical development of users in a multifaceted way, areas should be created in a successful gym that will serve different categories of exercises. Special classes, which are considered within the gym, special areas reserved for courses should be created. These areas can be customized in the gym with separators, walls, or glass joinery.
In the connection of the areas located in the gym with each other, a layout plan should be created so that users can easily meet all their needs and do not conflict with each other in the circulation area. In the salon, users can work as a group, or they may want to work individually. Adequate square meters and space connections-separations should be provided for every situation.
ILLUMINATION
Another design suggestion should be the right choice of lighting system. As in any indoor space, a lighting system should be selected here that will not adversely affect the eye sensitivity of users, taking into account the function characteristics, user capacity-qualities in the environment. Since eye diseases manifest themselves with time, incorrect choices may not manifest themselves in the initial stages. But since the negative effects on users will appear in the future, it may reduce the success of the gym.
SOUND INSULATION
Physical activities considered in the gym can often have loud sound sources. Let's consider a special exercise class, for example. Rumba, cycling, dance, pilates, etc. In these lessons, loud, up-tempo musics are used to encourage users and enable them to exert maximum effort. Attention should be paid to sound insulation between special areas so that this sound does not disturb users working in other areas. Each area should have its own system in the acoustic sense. Mixing the music used in the halls with each other may cause the rhythm and vibrations to enter into each other, which may have negative effects on the user. Imagine yourself, in a place where different musics are playing with high volume and tempo all around you, feeling a headache, nausea, feeling sick and so on can show itself after a while due to vibration. we can say that you will show symptoms.
As Ankara Riva Interior Architecture, we offer you professional service in your future gym projects with our experienced design team. We turn your design that you dream of into reality in such a way that it bears your signature. If you want to get ideas for your future designs in our wide range of services from project planning to turn-key projects.You can also take a look at our other articles, if you want to start your design immediately and get professional help, you can contact the Ankara Riva Interior Architecture design team.