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Trinidad and Tobago, and have several European-based projects in the pipeline. We focus on slums because informal


communities are where we’re seeing the most rapid urban growth at the moment. Mega-cities like Athens are shrinking as people flock to mid-sized cities. These mid-sized cities are ill-prepared for such surges in population, and as a result informal communities spring up that are easily expandable. If these are the current and future sites of growth and urbanism, we want to be right there in the throes of it all. Along with a clear and pressing need


for urban design, these areas tend to be swept under the rug by those who have the tools to bring about the most change for good. There’s plenty of research being done and policy being


October 2013 © Cybertrek 2013


created for the formal sectors, but as the formal city shrinks and the informal balloons, we can’t ignore the call for a shift of interest. We hope researchers and developers see our work and are inspired to follow us into the informal city, working to blur the dividing lines between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’.


Q


One of your concepts is the Vertical Gym. What is this?


The Vertical Gym (Gimnasio Vertical) is a replicable prototype – a kit of parts that can be assembled in custom contexts and modified to fit different programming, financial and ecological demands. It consists of three floors and a rooftop court that provide an extremely efficient variety of spaces for different recreational activities.


We came up with the idea when


we were both studying at Columbia University in New York City. The university gym was built underground, going down through several floors to make an efficient use of space in the dense urban environment. Vertical Gym takes this thinking and adapts it for the informal sector, using a frame and a set of materials that are feasible for lower- cost, informal sector construction. Our pilot Vertical Gym opened


in 2004 in Barrio La Cruz, Caracas, Venezuela. It transformed the site of a former makeshift soccer field into a fitness complex with a total floorspace of 1,000sq m, offering basketball courts, a dance studio, weights, a running track, a rock-climbing wall and an open-air soccer field.


Read Health Club Management online at healthclubmanagement.co.uk/digital 69


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