Sport Bars
Sportbars
Chelsea mid-block infill
New York, NY
1997
What if the distinctions between machines, bodies, and building in an urban health club/sports bar were collapsed? Each floor is composed of 4-foot-wide structural strips–the width necessary to accommodate an individual exercise machine. The exercise mechanisms are sutured into corresponding architectural components (Climbing wall and façade; weather membrane and resistance membrane; elevator counterweights and weight machines). Each machine functions as a prosthetic interface between body and building. Three vertical shafts extend into the sports bar below, which occupies an evacuated pool at street level. These slots allow the sedentary bar patrons to view either televised sporting events or glimpse the exercisers in the gym above.