WORKING IT OUT

STUDIO REPUBLIK GYM IN DUBAI, BY LULIE FISHER DESIGN STUDIO

Studio Republik is a 5,500 sq-m space offDubai’s Sheikh Zayed Road offering workouts, music, drama and dance, as well as the chance to enhance the body’s capabilities with nutrition, rehab and prehab, personal training, and strength and conditioning.

It is split into three distinct ‘communities’ or ‘platforms’ – The Arena: A family of studios for aerial, boot camp, cycling and group exercise; The Stage: A home for the performing; and The Lab: An integrated wellness centre providing yoga and Pilates studios for mind and body work, nutrition counselling, personal training and rehabilitative services delivered from a Dubai Health Authority approved polyclinic.

There’s also a restaurant, co-working and performance space.

Lulie Fisher Design Studio designed Studio Republik to occupy the first and second floors of what was a shell and core office building on Dubai’s main arterial road. Not being purpose built, there were many obstacles to overcome ranging from structural strengthening, compromised ceiling heights and acoustic privacy – both from neighbouring office and retail tenants and between Studio Republik’s own activities, some of which have been cocooned in six-sided acoustic ‘floating boxes’ to ensure sound separation.

The client’s brief was to deliver a ground-breaking facility like no other in terms of design, style, function, acoustics and seamless integration of cutting edge technology and equipment. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this technology originally conceived as a business tool to track and profile member usage has now been redeployed to keep members safe with the help of access control gates, smart wristbands, and booking apps to control capacity, protect personal space and reduce the need for surface contact.