FIT BY DESIGN
How fancy boutique gyms are seducing millennials with selfie walls, conversation pits and DJs
T EN years ago, working out typically meant paying a monthly fee to run indifferently on a treadmill in a grungy gym. These days, you’ll likely be paying $35 an hour to be part of a tribe of like-minded fitness buffs in a white-walled boutique fitness studio.
Behind that shift were designers such as Peter Bryant, whose firm has worked on studios including Soul-Cycle, Physique 57, Barry’s Bootcamp and, most recently, cold fitness studio Brrrn.
“We try to make these spaces feel like people can be there for a while, like a church,” says Bryant, 55.
Bryant says all the boutique gyms he’s designed tend to have a lot in common: a neutral color palette, clean angles and a minimalist aesthetic. His more recent designs include places where people can charge their phones, and tables where they can congregate after classes, sometimes with a juice or a shake.
And there’s almost always motivational imagery, ideally that can also serve as the perfect backdrop for an Instagram photo, says architect Nathan Bright, who has designed studios such as Fhitting Room, Rumble and Flywheel. “That’s an integral part of our design,” Bright says. “We lay out Instagram moments and where those moments can happen.”
In the Noho boxing studio Rumble, for instance, boxing gloves are hung near and lit by subtle spotlights. Murals and statues are placed in open areas, where people can pose with them. “It’s almost like you’re in an art gallery,” Bright says.
Space also has to be used strategically, especially if shaving an extra square foot off a locker room could mean an additional stationary bike, to fit in one more participant. To help open up cramped studios, designers typically rely on pleasing, nonfluorescent lighting, clean, straight lines and a simple color theme.
And, as technology and tastes evolve, so do the studios.
With more trainers broadcasting their classes on apps and socialmedia networks to reach a wider audience, we’ll begin to see more filmfriendly fitness studios, says Bright.
And despite a premium on space, expect to see more room for lounging, says Doug Houstoun, the principal architect with Heitler Houstoun Architects, which designed popular studios such as women’s-only gym Uplift, Pure Barre and cardio-dance studio 305 Fitness.
“These are the next generation of social clubs,” says Houstoun.
Here are some of the key features that give studios a clubby feel and keep fitness fanatics coming back.