URBAN DESIGN
There are currently four Vertical Gyms in Venezuela, either complete or under construction, including the site in Chacao (above and right)
Gymnasium now bustles with activity day and night and currently welcomes an average of 15,000 visitors a month. We’ve been particularly happy to find out that it’s helped lower the crime rate in this barrio by more than 30 per cent since its inauguration. All of our Vertical Gyms are non-prof-
it entities. That said, the cost to users varies depending on the municipality in charge of the complex. In the case of our Barrio La Cruz pilot, use of the soccer complex is completely free and there’s a very low membership fee for use of the gym equipment on the upper floors. All costs bring in revenue to the body running the complex, but not to the extent of running a profit.
Q
What does it cost to build a Vertical Gym?
The gym itself is a highly adaptable pro- totype which can be easily replicated and altered for the needs of the locale or the client. One of our prototypes fea- tures a steel frame, while another uses both steel and concrete. Choice of mate- rials will alter costs a bit, but excluding the cost of land, building each gym has so far come in at about US$2m. The gyms we’ve constructed in South
America have been financed by a com- bination of private investment and city mayors. These sites function primarily to serve low-income communities and pro- vide public space, so they don’t directly generate profit from the end users. That’s not to say the design couldn’t
cater for a different crowd and generate high returns. A high-end version could easily be retrofitted into New York’s Up- per East Side, for example. The model is malleable to the desires of the client.
Q
How did you engage the inhabitants of Barrio La Cruz
Little persuasion was needed. These
people want to play football, to release the day’s tension by going for a run, to impress their girlfriends with their muscle definition. They want what any formal community wants. If you build a gym in the formal sector with next to no barriers to entry, you don’t have to beg people to use the facilities. However, the key to maximising use
of the facility is to engage in community involvement from the beginning of the design process. We were on the ground asking residents of the barrio exactly what they wanted and what their neigh- bours needed most. This practice gives the community a stake in the construc- tion and design of the structure. As a result, they own a piece of its success as well as its condition in the future. A sense of collective ownership and re- sponsibility is very much a part of the positive benefits – such as the reduced crime rates – and high frequency use that we’ve seen with our Caracas gym.
Q
Are there any other Vertical Gyms yet?
There are four Vertical Gyms in Ven- ezuela, either complete or under construction. We also have a proposal for one in Amman, Jordan, as well as New York City. They all differ slightly: some incorporate a swimming pool, while others are attached to larger infrastructure such as Metro Cable sta- tions. The variations are based on the needs of the community, or what munic- ipal bodies financing the projects deem most useful for their districts.
Q
What are the biggest challenges when creating a
Vertical Gym? When working with municipalities, there’s regular turnover of people in- volved in a project. What one mayor might prioritise, his/her successor may
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not and a project gets put on the back- burner. We haven’t had to face this situation too frequently. Nonetheless, politics tends to be a big challenge in ur- ban developments around the world.
Q
How can cities become healthier places to live,
work and play? The problem of inactivity is so heav- ily concentrated in cities. We believe encouraging people to live more active lives comes down to two things: conve- nience and enjoyment. People often make the less active
decision – driving to work rather than biking, for example – simply because it’s more convenient. If we make active choices just as convenient for urban dwellers, if not more convenient, we be- lieve they’ll make the healthier choice. Additionally, no-one dislikes having
fun! Designers should try and incor- porate as many elements for fun into everyday active design as possible. If you could take a series of slides and stairs from your office to your home, high above the busy city streets, your inner child would not be able to resist and you would make the more active decision – not that we’re proposing such a mode of mass transit infrastructure, but you see our point.
Q
Do you have plans to further evolve the vertical model?
Right now we’re particularly interested in adaptable social housing. We’re look- ing at options for retrofitting existing infrastructure, such as multi-storey car parks, with modular design tools to incorporate aspects of city-living – dry cleaners, housing, parks, dining – into a single vertical structure. We’re ex- perimenting with the possibilities that present themselves when you take the street and its functions into the sky. l
Issue 4 2013 © cybertrek 2013
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