A New Typology for the Suburban Gym Needs to Be Established Which Goes Beyond the Airconditioned

Courtney Ryan 200418696Amelia Parkins 200315978Kazunori Narita 200242063

A new typology for the suburban gym needs to be established which goes beyond the airconditioned box, filled with exercise bikes, treadmills and weights. Open spaces, spaces which facilitate interaction, and links to the surrounding envionment are important features which health and fitnesscenters should establish to attract the wider community to the facility. after all, they are no longer just a gym they offer health, wellbeing and lifestyle. gyms should establish the following; medical facilities, cafes or swimschools, which raise revenue and support the local community. The following are examples of successful health and fitnesscenters.

Cook and phillip park

The site provides pool, gym and basketball facilities. This combination helps to draw a wide range of the community to the site. The facility offers swim school and squads for school aged, lap swimming for adults as well as lunch time basketball and volleyball for surrounding workers.

Pedestrian links exist between the site of BVN’s Cook and PhillipAquaticCenter and the surrounding environment, which help to channel the community through the site. A promenade is established through the site along the axis of William Wardell’s St Mary’s Cathedral. Access to the site is from the lower ground and the roof forms a sculpted terrace, which links the building to the city grid. Two bodies of water hint at the function of the spaces below and passers by can get a glimpse of what is happening within the building though the clearstory at street level.

A mezzanine level overlooks the Volleyball/Basketball facility. The open plan space creates an airy, light filled, social space, which encourages interaction between the users of the building.

The materials used are raw and industrial, and are softened through the use of timber benches around the pool and the mosaics around the seating area, which have been inspired by water.

MLCAquaticcenter

The MLC aquatic center is a private facility, which is also used by the public. The entrance addresses the school, yet its southern façade turns its back on the adjacent public park. This is an interesting strategy, which was developed by the architects Lippman and Associates, to recover development costs quickly and create revenue. The pool caters for lap swimming, learn to swim, water polo and diving within a single body of water. Through amalgamating the programmatic requirements, Lippman and Associates has been able to reduce the building footprint, and the cost associated with running a larger facility.

The building faces north and is naturally lit and ventilated during the summer months.

Kinggeorgevfitnesscenter

KGVFitnessCenter is located on Campbell St the Rocks, Sydney. It incorporates two flexible courts for a range of sports used by the local community; a gymnasium, aerobics room, community meeting rooms, external courts, a childcare and playground. The 30m-curved truss structure of the roof bridges between the street and one of the off ramps of the Bradfield highway. The space is naturally lit and ventilated via a skylight, which runs along the wall of the Bradfield Highway. Diffuse light is also received from the façade running along Campbell St, which allows pedestrians to still view an existing mural running along this wall.

The roof has been pulled down the side of the building, giving the building’s street façade its intimate scale. This is interesting when comparing the scale of the facade, to the spacious interior volume, which encompasses the courts.

Redfern aboriginal Medical service

We also selected the Redfern Aboriginal Medical Service (AMS) as architectural precedent of Health and Fitness Centres. The Indigenous Design Group, Merrima, designed the AMS building for Aboriginal people to feel comfortable using the facilities. Merrima considered the Aboriginal historic area and translated its reminiscence into architectural expressions of the new building.

The Redfern AMS was built in 2002 and is located on 36 Turner Street, Redfern. The St Vincent’s Roman Catholic Group historically owned this site, which included a church, presbytery, convent and school circa 1887. The convent was demolished after fire damage in 1987. A sad loss for Aboriginal people because the convent warmly helped Aboriginal homeless migrating from other towns to Redfern for more job opportunities in 1970's. The Redfern AMS was newly built on the site, intending to beautifully reproduce a good reminiscence of the convent. For instance, the AMS building reused the convent's remnant wall as part of a new façade, uniformed by similarly coloured brick and lightweight cladding with timber screens to windows, stairs and decks. Moreover, the AMS building reproduced the Gothic style windows of the convent and the existing church by expressing the rhythm of the screen's structural steel as narrow and vertical. Furthermore, the narrow external courtyard between the AMS building and existing church is to remind Aboriginal people of old ravines and gorges around Sydney. The internal and external colours are to symbolise Sydney harbour and its indigenous vegetation.

OASIS REGIONAL AQUATIC CENTRE

The Oasis Regional Aquatic Centre is a multi-function complex in Morgan St. Wagga Wagga. The complex is grouped into 3 areas, the Aquatic Centre, Gym, and Bolton Park Sports Stadium. The Aquatic Centre contains a leisure area featuring a wave ball, turbo pool, beach and water features, a hydrotherapy/program pool, 10-lane 25m indoor pool, 10-lane 50m outdoor pool, café and ice-creamery. The gym is located within the Aquatic Centre building and consists of an aerobics room and gym area including personal training options and a sauna. Adjacent to this building is the Bolton Park Sports Stadium which hosts a range of indoor ball sports.

Cook+Phillip, KGVFitnessCenter, MLCAquaticCenter

photo 8 (website accessed on 9/03/06)

AA-Projects march/April 1997, (website accessed on 9/03/06)

photo 9 and 13 ( website accessed on 9/03/06)
Photos 4,5,6,7,10,11,12 Courtney Ryan

Redfern AMS References: