The cliche of 'big box gyms’ was in need of re-inventing and that’s what we set about doing when tasked with designing the smart gym of the future for The Armah Sports Company in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
B_FIT smart gym is the first of its kind in the region, opening its doors in Jeddah in 2022 with a new vision for the future of fitness. Shed was tasked with creating a collaborative space to train body and mind, whilst delivering wellness via the latest smart technology available in fitness equipment. We conceived the overarching brand position, business identity, architecture, and interior design for B_FIT, delivering a progressive take for a client with innovation at the heart of the concept.
This technology-fuelled gym playground is a good example of design providing the perfect backdrop to new technology innovations that heighten fitness performance. We spoke to lead designer and Shed’s very own founder, Nick Stringer, to dive in to what it takes to reimagine a new type of fitness space and how this could evolve further in the future…
Capturing the spirit of movement in design
In this 40,000sq ft facility, the spirit of movement was a key aspect to the overall design. It was captured with an egalitarian approach taking inspiration from the Bauhaus, mid-century modernism, combined with the offbeat individualism typically found in popular athleisure and sports lux fashion brands.
Designing a fitness environment for a mix of Gen Y Millennials and (post millennial) Gen Zs raised all sorts of questions regarding the way those users seek validity in their fitness goals and motivations in living a healthy life. It’s too simplistic to say that gyms now need to be instagrammable, that happens anyway with high quality designed environments. Our focus was to develop a design concept that felt like a natural extension of the target gym-goer’s life.
‘For the people’ was our egalitarian clarion call to disrupt targeted environments which only talked to a singular sector of the community. Equal rights and opportunity was a fresh take on attracting a new enlightened fitness fan, providing them with a place they could relate to and spend time in. We liked this idea of a new ‘tribe’ becoming advocates for the brand. The modern, future-looking aspects (be it Bauhaus or mid-century case study houses) were a nod to pushing design forward for the masses. There are some design clues, but it is more a subtle manifesto for the B_FIT ‘tribe' to subscribe to.
Designing the gym of the future
Gym brands today are shifting to incorporate more co-working and recreational spaces and we’ll see this trend continue as well as the use of technology becoming a given in the future, not the exception.
What we’re starting to see more of is the gym experience becoming one with wellbeing and social spaces - one cohesive space where all these elements coexist together. B_FIT acknowledged this progression, but a natural further evolution that we may see more of in the future is to combine this with a more family-led approach to fitness, diet and mental health coupled with a social experience. Many brands talk about a holistic approach to this but enabling these to properly coexist is worth investigating.
The family unit worldwide is under threat, at Shed we see potential in engaging the whole family in a place that speaks to them all individually, as well as collectively. In many parts of the world an element of disconnect between family, health and society is visible. This translates into problems with a sedentary lifestyle. This is especially true of Saudi Arabia which has a deteriorating health record and is second top of the list for diabetes, making projects such as B_FIT all the more important for the Saudi people. Above all, designing the gym of the future means bringing all the people with you, not just the few.
Read more about our work with B_FIT and keep your eyes peeled on our social channels for more interesting projects.