An architectural project for a gym should begin with defining the services it will offer and the preliminary sizing of each area. To do this, the investor must have a thorough understanding of both their target audience and their competition.
- Who will be its user?
- What are his expectations?
- What time will you be coming?
- Do you work, study, or have a lot of free time?
These are fundamental questions when facing a gym project, since the answers to them will help to define the target audience profile.
In this way we will know if this customer will be in a hurry to be served, if they will need auxiliary services, such as childcare, a restaurant, a beauty center, etc., and we will have a closer idea of the amount of equipment and the number of rooms to serve during peak hours.
Regarding the competition, we need to know the basics:
- what activities does it offer
- What are its strengths?
- what its shortcomings.
With this data in hand, the user and the architect begin to outline the profile of the gym.
Will it be a gym with or without a pool?
Should we have several rooms for group classes with different formats, or fewer, larger rooms? What percentage of total service clients will use the changing rooms?
How to examine the answers
We need to critically evaluate all the data obtained and also try to draw up a profile of the future user, their expectations and their needs.
Let's analyze, for example, a For example, the case of a gym in a neighborhood with predominantly commercial activities, such as offices and shops, without residences nearby, and where people have difficulty getting to work in the morning and returning home in the afternoon because of traffic.
The public that frequents this gym is over twenty-five years of age (there are no children) and will frequent the facilities early in the morning, before work, occasionally during lunchtime and safely at night, after work.
We therefore have well-defined peak hours. To meet this demand, a large weight room is essential to avoid queues for the equipment (morning and midday users are often in a hurry). The gyms themselves must also be adequately sized so that absolutely no one is left out.
The changing rooms must be spacious, with plenty of showers and a comfortable dressing area, as they will be heavily used. The lockers must be large enough to accommodate work clothes, such as suits, without wrinkling them. Services like fast food and a hair salon are welcome, as are towel and locker rentals. The entire gym should be geared towards quickly meeting the needs of this professional clientele.
Let's now consider a different profile: A gym located in a middle-class residential neighborhood with high population density. It will be necessary to target a broader audience there, with different ages and needs.
We can plan a gym with a swimming pool, catering to everyone from children to the elderly.
Because it is a gym close to the user's home, except for the public that comes early in the morning, during the rest of the day the customer of the service is not in such a hurry, so the sizing of the weight room does not need to anticipate such strong peaks.
On the other hand, there should be large social areas so that people can chat, eat, or wait for their children.
The changing rooms will be used less: they must be comfortable, although the number of showers will essentially cater to the public of the swimming pool.
Sauna and room of body aesthetics These are good ideas, as is a children's play area. And since several age groups will be served, it would also be good to have more gym rooms to offer a more varied range of classes.
Exceeding expectations
Knowing who their future customer is, the entrepreneur and the technical architect begin to outline the gym's service program and size the spaces, always remembering that we must consider the user's comfort in each and every detail.
The user should feel welcome from the moment they arrive at the gym , with a well-planned reception area, appropriately sized fitness and weight rooms, and easy, spacious circulation. The gym should offer everything the user expects and more.
However, remember to tailor your offerings to the size of your business. It's better to offer fewer classes and services while maintaining the gym's comfort, rather than trying to cram in more than the space can realistically accommodate.
What if the place is small?
Organize the equipment properly, offer good service, and when the gym is full, you can consider opening another one in the same city or another.
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