Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias
Photo © Mito Covarrubias

Club VIVO47

 Back to Projects list
Location
Guadalajara, Mexico
Year
2006

Vivo 47 Gym is located in a privileged site adjacent to numerous residential developments. The project serves as a catalyst for the consolidation of Naciones Unidas avenue. Located in a street corner, the main facade is 86 meters of steady incline with height difference of approximately 8 meters. Opposite to the site is the only park of respectable dimensions of the surrounding area.

The program for the gym goes beyond the orthodox; aside from the traditional areas – mixed use weight and cardio equipment, women exclusive equipment, spinning, etc. - the gym is equipped with commercial areas, a restaurant, a nutrition clinic, swimming pool, yoga etc. This extended program turns the gym into a shrine for the human body. Therein lies the challenge: creating architecture capable of understanding and solving the spiritual and spectacular needs of the user considering accordingly what said users find most important about their body.

The thread that guides this leisure center finds its main anchors in the pool and the mixed use equipment. The triple height that contains the machines is intertwined with elevated corridors where the cardio equipment is located. Imagined as a central nave: the column sequence, the vertigo of the bridges, the interplay of light, nonetheless, everything is finally resolved in the depth and warmth of the mahogany mural on the east side which extends towards the pool area. From the façade of Naciones Unidas the spectator can guess the importance of thevertical volume that houses the baths; it is the only volume detached from order of orthogonality, a gesture of independence that determines itself andits relation to the other areas of this leisure complex.

The same space welcomes and sends off all visitors; the entrance pavilion faces the city acting as a showcase. Extending towards the entrance square in search of autonomy; a space of veils and filters transports us into the stage where one might attain that elusive ideal for the body.

In collaboration with Riggen + Pijuan

Other Projects by Elias Rizo Arquitectos

Casa CV (Remodel)
Guadalajara, Mexico
Torre D
Guadalajara, Mexico
Casa RO Tapalpa
Tapalpa, Mexico
The Ideal Bathroom (2007)
Ideal, Mexico
Casas Punta Zula
Chapala, Mexico