When I think of the gym, I think of a bunch of sweaty bros, grunting as they lift weights. However, the Italian architects of Carlo Ratti Associati have a slightly different idea. They just unveiled a design for a new type of gym. With all the energy that humans are expending inside it, they realized that the gym would be able to provide it’s own power source.
The end result is a 20-meter-long gym that will gently float along the Seine River, harnessing the power of the meatheads inside it with Technogym‘s ARTIS exercise machines. Along with being completely green, the gym might just be the most beautiful one in the world. It is reminiscent of the ferry boats that already use the river and will be capped by a glass bubble that allows exercisers to see the city, while forcing Parisians to watch a bunch of people sweat.
Of his new design, Carlo Ratti, founding partner of Carlo Ratti Associati said, “The Paris Navigating Gym investigates the potential of harnessing human power. It’s fascinating to see how the energy generated by a workout at the gym can actually help to propel a boat. It provides one with a tangible experience of what lies behind the often abstract notion of ‘electric power’.”