Co-working company WeWork is opening a gym in New York, which includes boxing and yoga studios, grassy flooring and a Roman-inspired salt bathing pool.
WeWork, which rents desks and office spaces around the world, has added the Rise by We gym to its FiDi office space at 85 Broad Street, in New York's Financial District. However, users do not have to be WeWork members for access.
Designed in-house and overseen by the company's head of interiors, Brittney Hart, the gym aims to provide members with a rounded health and fitness experience, including a spa and a cafe serving healthy fare alongside the gymnasium.
The gym forms part of the WeWork's progressive outlook on creating spaces that suit contemporary lifestyles. While first disrupting the workspace with its shared offices, last year it unveiled a concept for co-living apartments in New York.
In Rise by We, WeWork has divided the fitness space into three areas according to different exercises and the spaces they demand.
The first titled Fight is for boxing, kickboxing and mixed martial arts. In the studio, punch bags hang from black steel ceiling beams and are reflected in infinite rows in the mirrored walls. On one half of each bag, a paler material provides offsets the rest of the darkly finished space, which includes black walls and dark flooring.
The second studio, named Flight, designed for cardiovascular activities like running, rowing and functional training. Traditional equipment is arranged on one side of the room, leaving a large open area for gymnastic bands and ropes.
Contrasting the other two studios, calmer activities of yoga and meditation will take placed in the third studio, called Mindfulness. Dark wood panels cover the floor and paler wooden boards line the walls, while planting boxes hang from ceiling.
There is also "semi-private" workout facility, featuring a grass-like material on the floor, for those enrolled in the gym's Turf programme. These members undergo an assessment, including a 3D body scan, before being assigned a tailored programme.
A combination of pale stone wall tiles contrast black floors in the Rise by We "superspa", which features delicate lighting to create a moody atmosphere.
Envisioned as a modern take on the Roman bath, the spa includes a warm pool with mineral salts to reduce muscle soreness and cold showers, as well as a sauna and steam room.
In the reception, a white tiled desk extends to form staggered seating fitted with potted plants, and is reflected in the mirrored ceiling above.