Aksel Alvarez, David Racardo Dávila, Efrén Hernández, Eduardo Kairuz, Eduardo Maneses, Efren Santana, Francisco Martin, Jose Antonio Nunez, Jose Luis Leon, Mateo Pinto, Matias Pinto Oliver Castañeda, Ricardo Toro
Urban-Think Tank’s Vertical Gym is a prefabricated kit of parts, adaptable to any location. The base of the structure is superimposed upon an existing community basketball court, soccer field, or vacant lot. The building has 4000m2 of sports in a multi-level complex that can accommodate hundreds of people at a time. In this way, the design maximises the potential for sports in any city, particularly areas with a dense urban fabric.
Our Vertical Gym prototype serves as a safe haven for children in poor communities. In these neighbourhoods, children are constantly caught in the crossfire of gang wars and other forms of violence. Venezuela has the largest informal settlement in South America and U-TT has identified 100 sites where the vertical gym can be placed.
The Vertical Gymnasium transforms an abandoned urban space into a fitness complex with basketball courts, a dance studio, weights, a running track, a rock-climbing wall and an open-air soccer field. Indeed, this is an integral leisure facility for this densely populated sector of the city.The former urban space at street level due to the densely built surroundings, could not expand outwards. The solution was to build upwards.
Inspiration for the vertical gym was the old Columbia University sports gym and the NYC YMCA.
The Vertical Gymnasium (GIMNASIO VERTICAL™️) is a prefabricated steel structural system.
The design explores a modular and vertical arrangement of facilities for various sports. The use of recyclable materials, wind towers, solar panels, and rain water collection are part of the design concept and make this prototype an adaptable design made of components, that complies with the Kyoto protocol.
The Gym stands as a best practices example of a building that can receive international carbon credit grants and it promotes social sustainable design technologies.
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 neighbourhoods and informal settlements around the world, U-TT wishes to partner with municipal governments, private businesses, industry, and community organisations that are interested in bringing a Vertical Gym to their respective cities.
