Sponsored by Chemetal
HOSPITALITY
Health Club
of the Year
WAREHOUSE GYM D3
BY VSHD DESIGNDUBAI – VSHD Design delivered a boutique
fitness facility that defies the context of its
surroundings. Commenting on this conflict
with ‘the expected’, Tina Norden of Conran
and Partners remarked that the ‘understated
atmosphere pushes the boundaries of the
norm for Dubai, creating an unprecedented
agenda and representing the Middle East’s
socioeconomic shift towards sustainable,
functional design’.
Werner Aisslinger of Studio Aisslinger
immediately indicated his preference for the
project and its astute perception of space.
He appreciated how the brutalist aesthetic,
achieved primarily with concrete bricks,
refrains from the generic association of the
shiny ‘health-club look’. Using descriptions
such as ‘beautiful’ and ‘meticulous’, the judges
called attention to the gym’s materiality and
its open, light aesthetic.
Not only does the project deliver
a fitness venue for gym-goers; it also reac-
tivates the building’s 17-m-long glass façade
on the main street by incorporating an
open-for-all juice bar. Patricia Holler, senior
interior design director for Marriott Inter-
national: ‘I absolutely believe that mixed-use
spaces are the future.’ – LT
vshd.netPEOPLE'S VOTE
Warehouse Gym D3 by VSHD DesignJury member Tina Norden said that
Warehouse Gym D3 represents ‘the
Middle East’s socioeconomic shift
towards sustainable, functional design’.
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106 FRAME AWARDS 2019