Home gyms are no longer just functional pieces of equipment, designed to keep us in shape. Today’s modern machines look as good as they perform
It was an interior designers’ nightmare: out with the streamlined Philippe Starck sideboard and in with the bench press. The introduction of gym equipment could wreck any room. “It used to look monstrous,” says interior designer, Juliet Murrell, wincing at the very thought of the clunky oh-sofunctional metal frames cluttering up her schemes. “Home gyms were like a dark secret of the design world, locked away in dimly lit basements – out of sight and out of mind.”
But the days where you had to reinforce the floor and forfeit an entire room to mammoth dumb-bells are all but over. There are a slew of design-inspired machines on the market that have changed the very nature of the home gymnasium. The design establishment has turned its gaze onto exercise and, with modern technology at its fingertips, cumbersome equipment is being replaced by slick, super-modern gadgetry and innovative, modern interiors.
The unofficial piece of ‘It’ equipment of the season comes from the fitness phenomenon, Power Plate. Since the frenzied success of the product – that has seen women flocking to gyms to vibrate themselves slim – its makers have customised the original model and come up with a machine that women can covet as much as their newly toned abs. The polished chrome limited-edition machine has the sleek, shiny appeal of a brand-new Harley-Davidson and – at nearly £10,000 (€13,000) each – it costs nearly as much.
One innovation by the award-winning architect, Antonio Citterio, is more like an art installation than a get-fit fixture. The Milanese design maverick, who is also a professor at the Academia di Architettura at the Università della Svizzera Italiana, teamed up with Technogym to invent the ‘Kinesis Personal’, a flat structure that attaches to the wall and allows for over 200 resistance-based exercises using a system of grips, cables and weight stacks. It’s a complete fitness system that works with the body’s ownfluid, natural movements and will get the blood pumping quicker than the strictest personal trainer. It also looks fantastic. It’s the original hybrid: a super-functional machine and an objet d’art. Citterio has even upped the glamour stakes by introducing a limited-edition line that is handpainted with real gold leaf. Using traditional Florentine craftsmanship, the panel is lacquered in 24-carat gold leaf using a gilding process that takes more than 60 hours. Citterio previewed the Kinesis at the prestigious Salone del Mobile design show in Milan last year where it was hailed a huge success by industry aficionados.
“Gold was born for the more luxurious and extravagant houses and hotel suites,” says Nerio Alessandri, CEO of Technogym, the Italian outfit behind the product. “But of course the main challenge was to find the better compromise between functionality and design. It’s extremely important to achieve the better mind-body balance. At the same time the equipment has to integrate effectively with interior design. It was a real challenge.”
It seems that designers are determined to conquer the conundrum and fuse function with aesthetics. “When it comes to leisure facilities we seamlessly integrate a client’s fitness needs into a stunning interior design scheme,” says Nick Candy, joint CEO of the design duo Candy & Candy, whose latest project, Chesham Place in Belgravia, has gone all out to create a private gym complex. “Many of our clients have ‘been there and done that’ so it is essential for Candy & Candy to always be one step ahead. In a recent commission we integrated a projection cinema within a stainless steel and black marble spa and gym, creating the perfect environment.”
So, can we really look forward to a time when a stint on the treadmill becomes a design lover’s treat? “Gyms are no longer just for fitness fanatics like in the 1980s,” adds Alessandri, who intends to extend his empire beyond the coveted Kinesis and has just announced plans to build a pioneering, design-driven ‘Technogym Village’ in Cesena, Milan. “Functionality is no longer enough; equipment should look nice, feel comfortable and not intimidate. The overall atmosphere needs to appeal.”
Nick Candy’s billionaire clients expect their exercise experience to reflect their luxury lifestyle. His gyms are utterly bespoke. “It’s about pushing boundaries to create something unique,” he says. “Our designers travel frequently, sourcing the globe for new materials and innovations that can be adapted and seamlessly integrated into a design scheme.” At Chesham Place the company has even added a dramatic black marble catwalk to separate the complex of steam rooms, massage jets and rock pools from its sparkling mezzanine gym. And if that doesn’t inspire you to workout, what will? what will? – Sophie Grove