Going into a fitness center design without a plan can be a big mistake. Here’s how to look ahead.
Whether you are an old golf club that is adding fitness or a relatively new club built in the past 10 years, you are no doubt seeing changes in the landscape of fitness. Boutique group fitness studios are popping up all over, functional training has firmly taken its place in fitness centers, and all the while your facilities look older. The question is, how do you tackle existing space challenges, while figuring out how to add the new programs your members are looking for? The simplest answer is through a master plan for fitness center design.
A master plan for fitness center design should accomplish the following:
1. An examination of the current state of your facility. You have to understand what needs to be fixed, increased, decreased or replaced. Otherwise you may be missing a large price-ticketed item in your planning.
2. A definitive understanding of needs, both programmatically and spatially. If growth is your goal, then determining which program elements are going to increase and which ones are going to be added are key. You also must understand which ones may go away.
3. Planning direction. Master plans should include schematic space plans that show what the longterm vision is for the club, new program elements and how it could all be phased.
This is all part of a good planning process and hopefully will lead to the success of your fitness program.