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BRINGING A DESIGN TEAM ON BOARD

zynk Design - B2B Article / Blog post

If you are a corporate gym owner or company with an interior architecture and design project in mind for a fitness and wellness facility, you will be excited to see it take shape on paper. You will need to collaborate with a design team to do this. The result is a design that reflects your vision, is practical, and fits within your project's cost constraints. Designers also help you build a brand that’s at the core of your values and connects with your target audience.

Remember that you will collaborate with the design team for a long time. Selecting the correct team to work with may have a significant influence on project success. According to a Salesforce poll, 97% of employees and executives feel that a team's lack of alignment has a direct influence on the job or project's outcome. Employees who clearly understand their jobs, duties, and deadlines are more likely to be held accountable. There are many aspects to consider when designing a corporate gym or wellness facility.

The Design Process

In the corporate gym and wellness industry, the design team plays a crucial role. The project involves members of the design team throughout its full life cycle. From a focus on value engineering to incorporating sustainable building techniques, design teams may add real value to projects in a variety of ways.

Each design team will take a distinct approach to the creative process. The design phase of a project usually begins shortly after it begins.

The owner often approaches a design project manager during the initial phase of a project to present their concept and assess the project's practicality. If the project manager believes the office gym design idea is viable, he or she will quickly assemble a design team.

An onboarding process, in whatever shape it takes, has a significant influence on the future success of any design project. According to a Glassdoor study, companies with an effective onboarding process:

  • Improve new hire retention by 82%

  • Raise productivity by over 70%

Bringing in the gym design team early on is both wise and beneficial because:

  • It is vital the design is completed before the building phase can begin.

  • Before you can get the permits and entitlements for your corporate gym project, you will need a design.

  • Early involvement in the office gym design phase also helps the team to assess whether the structural design is workable and what limits exist.

  • Because the entire process might take a long time, you will also want to have the gym design teams in place and working on the project as soon as possible.

  • Every interior design project is unique. Some projects may need many modifications, each of which may consume more time.

Collaboration between the architects and engineers creates the initial draft, as well as later updates. When the architect creates a design for the project, the engineer will look at a range of factors, such as the materials and support systems needed, and whether any design elements will need to be changed. After you and the architect have accepted the design, the engineer will look through it again to confirm all safety, legal, and regulatory criteria.

Challenges to Overcome During the Design Process

The breakdown of communication between the many parties involved in the corporate gym design is the most significant difficulty facing the design process.

It is tough to grasp just how crucial communication is during this time. Both the architectural and engineering teams rely on one another for information. They cannot move on with their part of the project unless they get the information they require.

The project manager finds a solution to this issue by endeavouring to ensure that team members have all the information they need to complete their tasks. Project managers can avoid expensive delays caused by subpar communication by increasing the flow of information.

A project manager who is unfamiliar with basic design concepts can affect the success of the office gym design process. Unlike in the past, when the end output of the design process was a paper schematic, today's design process centres around Building Information Modelling (BIM).

BIM is a 3D modelling and design software that unifies the design, engineering, and project management responsibilities by creating a shared model that depicts design, infrastructural, engineering, and operational data. The entire design process can become less efficient if project managers are unfamiliar with how BIM works and how to coordinate the generation of BIM models.

The Project Management Role in the Design Process

  • During the design process, one of the project manager's major roles is to promote the flow of information between the many parties involved such as the client, architects, and engineers.

  • This may also include bringing on board a general contractor and including them in the design process.

  • Project management teams, like other aspects of construction or architectural projects, must be knowledgeable about the whole gym design process to be effective.

  • The project manager is also in charge of making sure that everyone on the team understands the project's budget and timeline to ensure the design process stays on track.

Navigating the Design Team Selection Process

The office gym design team you choose will have a significant influence on the project's success. A sizeable 86% of employees blame project and workplace failures on a lack of teamwork or inefficient communication. Designers differ in their design philosophy and the interior design and architectural projects they specialise in.

  • One designer could specialise in quirky conversions or industrial designs that are minimalist and edgy.

  • Another may be an expert in designing commercial facilities that are both visually pleasing and environmentally friendly.

  • In recent years, consumers have increasingly demanded innovative, immersive and engaging fitness experiences transporting them from daily life.

If you or your client values particular design aspects, such as sustainability or accessibility, you will want to collaborate with a design team that includes these features in their design philosophy.

Regardless of the type of fitness facility, every gym designer should be well-versed in creating layout designs with customer experience in mind at all times.

It is advisable to look for gym designers that have experience with projects comparable to yours. Then you will want to identify a design team whose design philosophy closely matches the project outcome you are looking for. Your project manager and architect will do a final walkthrough to check that the physical construction meets the project specifications after finishing construction.

Working with the design team is, in this sense, a long-term commitment. As a result, you will want to be as selective as possible throughout the selection process to discover a corporate gym design team you will work seamlessly with.

Your corporate gym designers should understand the operational demands of a gym, wellness or health club and how to optimise the internal space to accommodate the facilities and product offering.

zynk Design: Luxury Health and Wellbeing Design


Here at zynk Design, we’re specialists in office gym design and interior architecture and have over two decades of experience in the health, wellness and fitness industry.

We offer interior architecture, graphic design and fitness operation consultancy services to ensure thorough support through every stage of a project - from concept to execution. It doesn’t matter how big or small your project is, zynk can work with any space and apply creative design solutions that work visually and operationally.

Look at our portfolio of health and fitness designs covering everything from initial concept to project realisation for some gym design inspiration. We have a track record of creating successful health, fitness and spa ventures through intelligent, multi-disciplined design solutions that connect brands with people.

If you like what you see, we are offering a free design consultation. Contact zynk Design for additional information or to discuss anything design related, including how to navigate the selection process.

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