Surface Design Awards – Complete

• COMMERCIAL BUILDING - INTERIOR
  Commercial Buildings that are used for commercial purposes, and include retail, hospitality, workplaces, factories and warehouses and buildings where commercial services are provided. At least 50 percent of the buildings’ floor space will be used for commercial activities.
• LIGHT + SURFACE - INTERIOR 
  The innovative use of light and the way it is inextricably linked to surfaces, whether it’s the effect the light has on the surrounding surfaces or the materials used to create the light. 

Luxe II is a new boutique gym set in the heart of Bristol’s Hippodrome. Following the success of Luxe I in the south of the city, Design Storey took a different approach with the design of Luxe II, looking to reflect the more urban and edgy nature of the city centre context. Dark interiors, industrial mezzanines and feature walls all combine with the dynamic and bold lighting to create a unique club vibe. Key design features include an industrial style mezzanine, feature chain chandelier, local street art, diverse material palette and dynamic lighting to create a unique club vibe.

The fitness centre runs over three floors; basement, ground and a mezzanine. The material and surface choices were key to the success of the gym and played a key role in both drawing members into the club, as well as navigating them through the various spaces. Careful consideration was given to the zoning in order to create unique theatrical spaces for different exercise. The 10,000 sq.ft space features a juice bar, cardio, spin studio, resistance & free weights areas and functional area with a bespoke exercise rig.
Each element of the design was curated to provide an experience; from the juice bar clad in mesh, backlit polycarbonate staircase designed to draw people into the basement, feature chandelier to catch pedestrians views from the street and profiled metal cladding providing an industrial backdrop for exercising. The choice of surfaces and their ability to either reflect or emit light was key to creating the right atmosphere in the gym.

LUXE fitness aims to provide a luxury fitness experience from unique venues and spaces, while offering a welcoming and social atmosphere that is female friendly. The flagship Bedminster location won ‘UK’s Best New Gym 2022’ at the National Fitness Awards and it’s hoped the success can be repeated with the new site. The project was completed in January 2023, the cost of the project is undisclosed.

A number of industrial materials were chosen for the design, the main brief was to ensure that the materials could be lit or reflect light in order to create the desired atmosphere. The main materials used comprised of backlit poly carbonate walls, profiled metal cladding, tensile wire balustrades, & chains to create the feature chandelier. The raw surfaces of the concrete frame and exposed steel structure were left exposed and painted to provide an industrial backdrop and grit to the space. Flooring was kept quite neutral with epoxy resin flooring used throughout the main circulation spaces, re-purposed timber flooring on the mezzanine and rubber gym matting for the weight training areas.

The surfaces applied should be considered for a surface design award because they are key to the experience of using the gym. The surfaces applied should be considered for a surface design award because they elevate the gym beyond the ordinary and have given the space the design flair and USP which has provided the marketing collateral for the space and ensured the gym delivers an unrivalled membership experience.

The project is a creative use of a space that would either have remained empty or be used for storage, so the reuse and repurposing of the space is inherently sustainable. The design concept was to make use of existing surfacers where possible, exposed concrete frame and steel. We a sought to limit construction waste where possible be reusing existing finishes such as the floor finish on the mezzanine and retrofitting existing features such as the staircase to the mezzanine which was refreshed with new balustrading.

We had never detailed a backlit poly carbonate staircase before so this demanded a certain amount of research and development to ensure that this feature had the required impact. This was challenging due to the short-timeline of the fit out and also the fact that the stair had to work within a pre-existing void in the floor slab, also the staircase had to incorporate a fire curtain to comply with building regulations so the design was quite constrained. The design required a close collaboration between the architect, lighting designer, client and contractor to achieve the desired effect.

One-to-one scale mock-ups using poly carbonate of different core composition, densities and translucency were create and tested with a range of light fixtures to ensure there was an even distribution of light across the stair and it had enough intensity to ensure that the light levels were adequate to use the stair safely. There was a lot of thought and discussion about the inside balustrade material, we didn’t want to make that polycarbonate as it would have been quite chunky, so we chose a fine tensile wire mesh to give the polycarbonate the maximum impact.

This project demonstrates that a gym doesn’t have to be located in a bland retail unit and the right existing space can be transformed into a space for exercising that is enhanced by surface, texture & light.