Develin Fitness and Community Center

This is my entry for the Make It Real Design Challenge #2. Like the title suggests, this gym is environmentally friendly and is self sustainable, which means it runs itself mainly on natural sources, like solar and wind power.

This gym is different from its classic siblings in that it is built to accommodate the general public, instead of only people who work out. This includes children and the elderly. It provides a larger range of healthy activities, providing opportunities to learn about different sports and training regimens. While gyms usually focus on physical health, my gym includes aspects that allow people to maintain their mental health as well, because mental health is just as important as physical health, and the love of learning should be instilled in everybody.

Highlights: I explain in detail these different features, highlighted in bold:

COVID-19: These are safety measures taken to protect the young and old alike from COVID-19.

ACCESSIBILITY: These features are added to make sure that that areas are accessible to everyone.

SUSTAINABILITY: These areas are sustainable and environmental friendly.

My design was completely built and rendered in Fusion360.

Accessibility: All of the facilities on Floor 1 and Floor 2 are accessible by anybody. Wide doorways ensure that people in wheelchairs, crutches, or scooters can get in easily. The door frames have braille on them to help blind people know which room they are in!

Covid-19: All of the activities are separated by walls into different rooms. This ensures that contact tracing will be more specific, down to the room they were in. There are also hand sanitizing facilities at every doorway to make sure everyone is clean.

Visitors enter through the front of the gym, where there is a reception desk and 2 large screens displaying videos/livestreams of the other rooms in the facility. This is so that new patrons are able to see what this gym can provide for them before they even begin participating.

Covid-19: There is a mask dispenser at the door, and the person at the desk will remind each person who comes in to take a mask, if they don't already have one!

After a workout, you need some rest, of course. That's why this room exists, which is connected to the main lobby. In here, there are multiple tables with chairs surrounding them. A couch is also available. Across from the couch is a vending machine stocked with energy drinks, water, and some soda; you might recognize some of those drinks! This machine ensures that you are never dehydrated when you go to work out.

Covid-19: All of the tables/couches are spread out to ensure everyone social distances.

Entering one of the doors in the lounge leads you to a locker room. There are two specified locker rooms: one for men, and one for women. In each locker room are a few stalls for privacy and some lockers.

Accessibility: Each stall has wide doors, so wheelchairs can fit into them.

While exiting the locker room, people will come into this huge room, which is lined with glass to let in lots of light. This area is filled with 3 different pools: A hot tub, a diving pool, and a long lap pool. A lifeguard tower is strategically placed in a way that the lifeguard on duty is able to see the whole room where they are sitting from. There are shelves filled with PFDs and life jackets as well as life preservers lining the walls. There is a steam room as well, to improve peoples' cardiovascular health.

Accessibility: There are ladders going into the pool so that people can get in and out easily.

Sustainability: This room is powered completely with natural light.

Taking a different exit out of the lounge takes you to the machine room, which is filled with many different exercise machines. There are treadmills, elliptical machines, bench presses and stair mills. Exercise balls are available for aerobics, and there is also a set of battling ropes in one corner.

Sustainable power: The machines in this room are connected to a power box. When they are in use, the energy from the movement of the person using them helps to power the gym!

This is a hallway inside the building that allows people to enjoy greenery even if it is raining/cold outside. The plants in here don't need much sun, so they thrive in this area and provide oxygen to the people inside.

This room is full of handholds on the walls for people to climb up. There are even some on the roof for a larger challenge, and the ground is padded for safety. Chalk is provided on a table in the entrance; if you didn't know, chalk is used by climbers to maintain a better grip on handholds.

There are two bathrooms, one for men and one for women. There is a large mirror spanning each of them, and the sinks are spaced apart to protect against COVID. The men's room also has urinals.

Accessibility: The bathrooms have wide stalls and handlebars so that disabled people can safely use them.

For people who like to exercise in coordinated group activities, this room is perfect! An elevated stand gives the instructor a whole view of the room, which helps them to lead the whole group in aerobics/yoga or dance class. Chairs are stored behind the stand, which makes this room easily convertible into a meeting or presentation room.

In this room heavy lifting and punching are focused on. Available here is a dumbbell rack for lifting practice and some punching bags. There is a boxing ring in the middle of the room, which can be used for boxing matches or wrestling matches.

Accessibility: Instead of just climbing into the boxing ring, there is a ramp available. This means that people in wheelchairs can still get onto the boxing ring. (Yes, wheelchair boxing is a thing, and may become a paralympic sport, as this article states! Cool, right?)

This room is how members get to the second floor. There is a staircase here.

Accessibility: A handle is provided so that the elderly and children can climb up safely. For people in wheelchairs or scooters, there is an elevator next to the staircase.

This room focuses on mental health and learning. There are bookshelves lining the walls, and a few private cubicles for studying or work. Two private rooms are set aside for small meetings/therapy sessions. The whole room has large windows so people can look outside for inspiration or to think. The computers are separated into cubicles to maintain privacy and social distancing.

Sustainable power: The slanted roof of this building is topped with solar panels! Since it is at the very top of the building, this area receives the most amount of sun and will provide lots of power to the gym.

A large neon sign is displayed above the entrance. I thought about what I wanted to name my gym. Many of the entries in this contest have displayed Mr. Develin's name on their gym, so I added that. I decided to also add information on what the gym is about to provide a clearer image of its goals.

Exiting the second floor will lead you into a large greenspace for everyone to enjoy. The greenspace has small plugged holes which can be uncovered to create a putting green.

Next to the greenspace is a small pond full of koi and other fish. The sounds from a small fountain in this pond will promote wellness and relaxation, and there is a small bench next to the pond for people to look into it and enjoy the sounds and fish. T

Accessibility: he whole roof has a guiderail around it to keep people safe.

On top of the roof there is a large oval track which can be used to practice running. Additional items are stored in a small shed, such as hurdles and cones.

Sustainability: The roof of the shed is a solar panel. It is not obstructed by any other roofs or features, which ensures it to get lots of sunlight.

The track wraps around this large round area, which is filled with benches for people to relax on and to promote well-being with planters and a large, open view.

I switched from Formit to Fusion360 in this project, and it was interesting to learn about the different mechanics and tools I could use. It was handy to learn, and I can now add Fusion360 to my belt of known CAD opportunities.

Thanks for reading this, and please give me a vote in the contest if you think this design is interesting!

Goodbye!