#‎gymbeforeandafter‬
"Regardless of your existing architectural envelope, your windowless basement box, your featureless sparse warehouse or unimaginative strip mall rental... dramatic design transformation of your space can profoundly alter the public's perception of your gym" Cuoco Black 

Greater still is the impact you can make as the outstanding gym brand in your market.

The before and after images of the cardio section of Mid City Gym (above) illustrates the dramatic transformation of this New York City subterranean concrete box. The client questioned the viability, challenges and investment required to transform the utilitarian space into a profitable gym model. Our design recommendations centered on one trajectory.  


Embrace the concrete environment, don't try to hide it with sheetrock walls, ceilings and rooms which would require labor and materials for framing, wiring, mechanical ventilation, sheet rocking and finishing.  

1. The strategy focused on an open plan with few rooms.

2. Painted walls and ceilings (concrete colored of course) were left exposed with sparse ornamentation mechanically attached to the walls,  
3. Floor and furniture finishes were specified in colors and patterns that which reflected the brand and concept.... but also in dramatic contrast to the concrete envelope.

In essence the concrete room became a canvas, as in a painting, to the few design elements which punctuated the space.

TAKE AWAY: Savings in tens of thousands of dollars in labors and materials by embracing the existing architectural features of the space rather than designing over them.

IN CONTRAST: You will find many design firms which will recommend complete transformation and build-out of like environments. Such recommendations result in two outcomes. The squandering of your investment and the padding of the designer's portfolio.
RECOMMENDATION: Before committing to construction and build-out take inventory of your pre-existing architectural environment. Elements which appear challenging may in fact be powerful design features that can reinforce your brand, save you substantially in construction, and result in a super-cool design that transcends the clichés and trends employed by your competition.  


Arrest design egos, build smartly #savemoney

Cuoco Black Learn more at: www.fitnesscenterdesign.com
Follow Me On Instagram @ GymDesigner
Facebook/ FitnessCenterandGymDesign

About Cuoco Black:  Cuoco Black is a design academic, interior designer, entrepreneur and natural bodybuilder. He's a former faculty member and holds a BFA with Distinction, and a Professional Design Diploma, from the New York School of Interior Design, ranked 4th in the World for superior interior design curriculums by US News and World Report. Cuoco Black is additionally the designer of the Experimental Cocktail Club, Paris France, rated one of the top 20 Bars in the world by foodandwine.com
The designer is additionally developing new gym models across diverse fitness market segments including luxury brands, functional training franchises, independent gyms and residential fitness facilities.

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#gymlockerrooms #fitness #gym #muscleandfitness #mensfitness #gymrescue #menshealth
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#worldsbestgyms #beautifulgyms #bestgymbrands #gymowner-

"Brand Don't Trend" Cuoco Black 2015

TOP GUN: Slang, a person who is the best or one of the best in a particular field; the top ranked person in a group.

I admire the insights of Guy Kawasaki. Kawasaki, former technology evangelist for Steve Jobs at Apple states that A players hire A+ players, and B players hire C players, and C players hire D players...obviously metaphor for the value smart leaders (A types) desire when hiring top (A+) talent for their team. 

This post asks... "Why would one hire B players to execute when the ROI generated as a result of the A+ player's pedigree and skill set is known widely in the marketplace?"

Well, a number or reasons. 

Often B players are in close proximity to the principal. B players are understandably less expensive to retain than A+ players. B players, on occasion, are friends or family. B players are peripherally familiar with the skills required to design but they're not A+ specialists...in other words, architects and designers who design homes possess design skills....however they don't have the expertise or insights required to design gyms. Be forewarned. If your objective is to scale and grow your gym business and compete in this oversaturated fitness marketplace, your B player gym design is sooner or later going to encounter A+ gym design delivered by your competition.

"If your objective is to scale and grow your gym business and compete in this oversaturated fitness marketplace your B player gym design is sooner or later going to encounter A+ gym design delivered by your competition"

The pool from which gym designers are often sourced is deep and robust.
1. Friends
2. Lovers and Spouses
3. Local Architects and Designers
4. Residential, Retail, Hospitality Decorators, Designers and Architects
5. Some hybrid matrix of any of the above

Friends:  Friends, or friends of friends whose design expertise is limited to building man caves and consumed episodes of HGTV will assuredly undermine any effort to create a dominant gym brand. 

Lovers and Spouses: Gym developers who enable spouses to specify design based on having, good taste, design knowledge of gyms they've frequented, a stack of Lifestyle Design magazines and access to Google Search, place their investments at risk as the preceding are not prerequisites to pedigreed gym design or branding.  

Local Architects and Designers: Proximity to your facility might seem like an advantage in retaining a design firm however the advantage gained is soon lost when designers unfamiliar with the ethos of fitness place their aesthetic stamps on your facility resulting in nice design.... but not outstanding gym design.  
  
Residential, Retail, Hospitality and Office Designers: The least effective way to develop a gym brand is to invite home designers and decorator's to brand your gym. Resultant aesthetic...the Boutique Design Trend, an over exhausted style exploited across all of commerce that says nothing about fitness nor your brand.

Boutique Design (above) says nothing about fitness, nor does it exhibit energy or excitement, nor does it reinforce the brand, yet the aesthetic continues to be sold to gym developers as sophisticated and relevant. The design firms who promote this aesthetic are less interested in creating a dominant gym brand and more interested in creating design that embellishes their portfolios. Don't squander your investment on this over exhausted cliché.

To be clear, when savvy gym developers hire A+ talent and Top Gun consultants their strategy is to enter the market with a gym brand that is exponentially superior to the competition. Their objective; market domination and supreme ownership of the target demographic. I.e., they retain the A+ players because the skill sets A+ players bring to the table results in a superior brand that upstages the competition. This strategy also provides a hedge against those who are considering entering your market in the future but are unable to deliver an equal or greater brand or brand aesthetic.

Gym Branding and Design should telegraph fitness, reinforce the brand, promote the mission and exhibit excitement, energy, and power, as metaphors for exercise, strength and fitness. Friends, spouses, home decorators and local designers don't roll this way, they're simply interested in creating nice design. 

Design Takeaway: Be the A+ Gym Brand..be the Top Gun

Mid City Gym's entry in Manhattan's Times Square is an uber-cool and innovative design that immediately telegraphs fitness. It exhibits energy, excitement, and the interior color scheme and concept in a unified aesthetic that powerfully reinforces the brand. This is a marketing strategy that seduces prospects to buy into the brand.
Learn more at: www.fitnesscenterdesign.com

About Cuoco Black:  Cuoco Black is a design academic, interior designer, entrepreneur and natural bodybuilder. He's a former faculty member and holds a BFA with Distinction, and a Professional Design Diploma, from the New York School of Interior Design, ranked 4th in the World for superior interior design curriculums by US News and World Report. Cuoco Black is additionally the designer of the Experimental Cocktail Club, Paris France, rated one of the top 20 Bars in the world by foodandwine.com
The designer is additionally developing new gym models across diverse fitness market segments including luxury brands, functional training franchises, independent gyms and residential fitness facilities.
#gymdesign #gymbranding #gymtrends #gymideas #gymrescue #gymmarketing #fitfam #fitlife #fitfluential #hgtv