Gym & Soul Concept

The club consists of three main areas: a gym with a new concept of group training (Gym), 3 halls with recreational-style group workouts (Soul) and a healthy food cafe (Smartass Cafe).

The Smartass design team was faced with the task of creating three different spaces for mood and functional purposes, united by a single red line.

Entrance group

Smartass Gym & Soul is located in the new luxury business center Gradient, in Kiev. The common hall is decorated in dark glossy materials and with integrated art objects.

Opposite the main entrance, you are greeted by large screens on the entire wall with spectacular mod videos from Gym & Soul.

The hall itself is located on the ground floor. You can get there from the ground floor of the common hall through two side elevators that connect only the zero and first floors.

Entrance, reception, common area and cafe

This zone can be reached both by separate two elevators from the common hall, and through the internal elevator system, to which only residents of the business center have access. And from the common area of the hall and the entrance group, the club is separated by a large glass wall that adds volume and air to the space.

This area with changing rooms, Gym and Soul, combines a solid gray floor with stylish navigation in the form of white lines. In addition to it, along the movement of people, there are lightboxes with additional navigation. They are also an additional source of warm light, which has a beneficial effect on people's perception of space.

The cafe area is highlighted with black elements: medium-format tiles 10x10 cm, painted aluminum slats on the ceiling, walls. Accent elements are a bright blue stand with elegant white details and a panel with illustrations by young street art masters — the Feldman sisters.

A separate focal point is a small merch area that surrounds the existing column with minimalist backlit shelves and stylish curved neon lettering.

Special attention should be paid to the humorous neon navigation inscriptions. For example, in addition to the utilitarian designation Gym and Soul above the doorways, above the elevators are Ordinary world with the down arrow,

Gym Area

The Gym area is led by a preparation area with a continuation of the gray floor and black walls.
The working gym area itself starts with a set block rubber floor in black and a spectacular ceiling installation that simulates a gradient transition from dawn to sunset. As you move along the different training areas, the mood and light intensity changes due to the installation. The Smartass design team will use this connection with nature and the exterior environment in some more areas of the club.

The warm-up and fastener area starts with purple and magenta shades, in the area with the legs a more neutral light that passes into the area of the hands, and becomes “hot” in the functional and cardio area.

The effect of the light structure is enhanced by the large stained glass windows present on most walls.

Soul Zone

The Soul area is highlighted in ocher and combines three separate rooms with group workouts and two massage rooms. It adjusts to a more calm and thoughtful work with the body.

The common areas are united by a self-leveling floor, while the halls use natural oak parquet with a pronounced chamfer for greater tactility.

In the yoga room on one of the walls there is a large installation with dynamically cut strips of fabric of different lengths, along which the upper and lower colored light is shaken. The trainer has the ability to change the installation colors according to the given scenarios: hours of solstice (dawn, noon, evening, sunset), soothing color combinations and mono colors.

In the hall with reformers, the focus is on training stations. The light is configured to be a compliment rather than a staple of the space.

In the mobility room, an installation made of asymmetrical mirrors and checkered orange and blue backlighting form an interesting effect of dynamics and create a purple color in the intersections.

Light

In all areas, the Smartass design team has paid great attention to light and how the person feels in it and with it. In addition to the fact that at all points where a person sees themselves in the mirror, the light is adjusted in such a way that their body and face look their best, so also during training, light scenarios are used that help to evoke the desired emotion and body reaction to the given exercises.

Team: Kateryna Kuzmenko, Alla Litvinenko, Valeriya Degtyaryova