Soho Gyms take design quality very seriously. So at Borough SE1 they once again asked Adams + Collingwood architects to design and project-manage their latest facility. The Soho Gyms / Adams + Collingwood team has built on five earlier successes at Waterloo, Clapham and elsewhere to deliver a spectacular fitness venue, to a fast track programme, once again on time and on budget.

Soho Gyms were delighted with the result, as the following remarks from their club manager Meaghan Bell make clear:-

Soho Gyms Borough is the latest addition to one of the last independent gym groups in London. Together with Soho Gyms Flagship Gym at Waterloo, the gym firmly establishes Soho Gyms as the first choice gym venue in SE1. Architecturally impressive, it enhances the award winning Empire Square, Long Lane development. Floods of natural light complement the dynamic design. This state of the art gym will arguably be one of the best equipped facilities in London’

The challenge at Borough was to give strong identity and personality to a deep plan and featureless space originally envisaged for retail use on the ground floor of a large residential development. Adams + Collingwood created an animated composition of lights and services at high level, which complements the visual complexity of the equipment on the floors, and the movement and activity in the spaces.

At Borough, for the first time, Soho Gyms have included a sauna, steam and relaxation spa area, which gave Adams + Collingwood the opportunity to orchestrate a total mood change for this part of the gym. Soft lighting, curvilinear spaces and organic forms in mosaic tiling create an intimate and profoundly relaxing ambience, as a complete contrast with the pace and action of the working gym.

Adams + Collingwood have also developed their radical and practical shower / changing room concept at Borough: Instead of being placed in damp corners, the showers are enclosed in a beautifully detailed and lit central pod that acts as a dramatic focal element to the changing rooms, another example of design being used cleverly and cost effectively to transform the experience of visiting a Soho Gym.

Soho Gyms describe the result as stunning architecture.