A spot of light exercise

Gymbox: the name is pretty indicative of the place – a gym built in a box. But this box is the subterranean vault that was once home to the Lumiere Cinema in London’s Covent Garden. And the gym is no ordinary one; its startling design and use of coloured lighting sets it apart from any other fitness centre.

Housed within a single 2300 m2 triple height space, much of which used to be the cinema auditorium, the main fitness room has three tiered levels, which utilise the existing sloping floor where the rows of seating once were.

There is no natural daylight anywhere in Gymbox, other than in the ground floor reception. Ranks of brand new running and weight training machines glint in the artificial light, picking up colours from a diverse array of luminaires. The stairs running down either side of the space and the elevated walkway that bisects the gym have a perforated steel floor covering that has been lit from beneath with vivid pink, blue and yellow fluorescent tubes. Walls of rough-faced concrete and brick are softened on one elevation by a striking yellow curtain, backlit by T5 fluorescent battens with lime green colour filters.

Bill Dugdale, managing director of Lancashire-based electrical contractor DES Electrical, says: “We started the six month project in June 2006. The installation of services was a real challenge due to the multi-layered mezzanines and floor levels.” DES carried out the electrical installation including emergency lighting and the fire alarm system, cctv and co-ordination of data, voice and security alarm. Work for the contractor’s six on-site operatives was often like being in a gym: the atmosphere hot and sweaty, due to the absence of natural ventilation on the underground site. This was compounded by the lack of daylight.

While the project team toiled in a temporarily lit basement, the lighting design for Gymbox has been instrumental in setting the mood of the fitness centre. Light & Design Associates has created a scheme full of surprises. Lee Prince says: “We developed a brief using light to explore the volumes set within the auditorium and to express the texture and hard edged feel of the contemporary materials. Colour was an important element, distancing the gym’s design from the sterile white walls and wooden floors found in most health clubs.”

The main fitness space features the aforementioned blue and pink fluorescent luminaires; vertical shafts of white light from recessed T5s set at knee level on walkways; the back-lit yellow curtain, covering an entire three-storey wall; and, hanging from the underside of the elevated walkway, 150 W blue metal halide lamps in PAR can fixtures spotlight areas of the room giving a film studio-like atmosphere.

Aside from the main fitness room, two further studios cater for aggressive and holistic fitness techniques. The first is a small cell-like room, used for maximum intensity spinning classes and martial arts. It is deliberately oppressive, illuminated using intense red LED Plexineon lines set into the walls. The second studio is altogether different; it is decorated in neutral colours and features fabric clad illuminated boxes in the ceiling. These are digitally controlled to set scenes – from bright for Ashtanga yoga to very subdued for meditative pilates techniques.

“Our budget was £250 000,” says Dugdale, “although, through co-operation with the design team, it was brought in on time and for less than budget.”

At a total cost of £5 million including fitness equipment, Gymbox is truly unusual in its striking aesthetic. Maybe it’s a subconscious nod to the colourful Philippe Starck-designed St Martins Lane Hotel in the building above. Whatever the reason, this cinema turned fitness centre really is the star of its very own show.