If you are setting up a commercial fitness center, you are probably already aware of the challenges that come in the way. From selecting the best possible location to procuring finance, you have to cross each hurdle successfully before you can see your dream facility taking shape.
One of the most crucial aspects of fitness center planning is design. The design of your fitness center plays an important part in its commercial success. Not only should your facility provide a stimulating environment for physical training, but it should also adhere to all safety standards to ensure the security of your patrons.
It requires some amount of creativity and imagination to come up with the perfect interior design for fitness centers. If you are looking for ideas, here are some tips you can use for designing your fitness facility.
1. Space
Interior design and layout for gyms has to make the best use of the space available. You should avoid overcrowding your facility and maintain comfortable distance between equipment to make it appear open and airy. Having high ceilings will also give it the impression of being big and spacious.
Remember that a lot of people will be sweating it out here simultaneously and that could emanate foul odor. Keeping your facility uncluttered and well ventilated will help you maintain freshness inside.
Your fitness center design shouldn’t just cover the workout area, but also make provisions for showers and locker rooms inside the facility.
2. Safety
This is one of the most crucial aspects of setting up a fitness center. It’s vital that the layout of your fitness facility follows safety guidelines to avoid mishaps and accidents from happening; otherwise you could find yourself in expensive lawsuits.
This means that your equipment be subjected to regular servicing and maintenance to guarantee its safety, the electrical fittings should be checked frequently to minimize the risk of short circuit, and your facility should have clearly marked fire escapes to be used in case of an emergency.
3. Equipment
How the equipment will be laid out forms an important part of the interior design for fitness centers. You should take into account the traffic pattern of your facility to decide how to position the machines.
For example, if your patrons are clearly distinguishable into weight losers and bodybuilders, you may want to group machines accordingly. So, you could put all the cardio machines together and group the strength training ones separately.
The key is to maintain adequate distance between each piece of equipment so your clients can get on and get off the machines without bumping into one another.
4. Aesthetics
Aesthetics refer to the décor of your fitness facility. Some people may think that beautifying a place that’s meant for exercise is unnecessary, but there is more to aesthetics than making a place look pretty.
It’s the aesthetics of a fitness facility that make it inviting and motivate people to come there and exercise day after day through the use of proper color schemes and inspirational motifs and paintings.
You could also add a touch of cheer to your facility by decorating it with pretty flowers and potted plants.
Using carpets on the floor is another idea that gym owners can incorporate in their fitness facility design. It will not just add brightness to your gym, but also reduce the noise and damage to the floor from falling equipment.
5. Entertainment
There is a class of people who think that when you exercise, your full concentration should be on your workout and not on the television set in front of you. But there may not be too many takers for this theory because most people like some sort of entertainment while they work out.
Seldom will you find a commercial gym that does not have large screen television sets mounted on the walls or hi-fi music systems blaring away popular numbers.
So, entertainment has to be part of interior design for fitness centers. How elaborate you want the entertain system of your fitness center to be is something you have to decide.
In the end, you must keep in mind that interior designing is not the job of your architect or builder. There are people and firms who specialize in designing fitness facilities and make use of sophisticated technology to provide you with 3D designs that are as close to what your facility will look like in real as can be!
