Ricardo Toro, Efren Santana, Jose Antonio Nunez, Jose Luis Leon
Urban-Think Tank’s Vertical Gymnasium (GIMNASIO VERTICAL™) is a prefabricated construction system installed on the site of a run down, existing inner-city sport field. The design explores a modular and vertical arrangement of facilities for various sports (Volleyball, Martial Arts, Running Track, Weight lifting area, Basketball, etc.). The vertical dimension of the gym structure compensates for 70 ha of lacking sports fields in the slum-areas of the city.
The inner city is an area where little open land is available, crime rates and violence are skyrocketing and population densities up to 768 per/ha are common. We believe that practicing sports should not be for a privileged few. Sports and physical activity should be a right of all citizens in the city, no matter what their social and economic background is. With the Vertical Gymnasium we want to create the physical and broad political platform where such activity can happen. Venezuela has the largest informal settlement in South America and U-TT has identified 100 sites where the vertical gym can be placed.
The Gym is not only a Basketball court, or an open-air roof playing field for soccer. The building is a community center with a covered area for gatherings. The structure will also be used for cultural, entertainment and conference events.
The building was conceived through observation. The design team looks at areas where life is being transformed fast and we worked with a team capable of searching the city for opportunities where change is happening---places where breakthroughs can be made.
The gym type building can be found all over the world, but here in Caracas our design was guided not by visual appearance alone and not by the world of bricks and steel, but actually by the world of program, models and processes, a world of ideas. Not what is, but what could be.
U-TT believes that engaging in exercise and social activity is a right of all citizens in the city, no matter their social and economic backgrounds.
Given the dire need for such facilities in low-income neighborhoods and informal settlements around the world, U-TT wishes to partner with municipal governments, private businesses, industry, and community organizations that are interested in bringing a Vertical Gym to their respective cities.
