Italian firm Carlo Ratti Associati came up with a brilliant way to inspire people to exercise more. They have a saying “Urbanism: The New Ideas For City Living” and it look like they are living up to it. The gym boat was developed in collaboration with the fitness equipment manufacturer Technogym, the non-profit architecture group Terreform ONE and the urban regeneration institute URBEM, Paris. Basically the Navigating Gym project is a human-powered Gym Boat that cruises along the Seine River by using energy sourced from passengers’ workouts. The Paris Navigating Gym is a 20-meter long fitness vessel that can host up to 45 people. The fitness area features Technogym’s ARTIS machines – a special typology of sports equipment that harnesses human energy and makes it available to further uses.
By doing exercise on the ARTIS bikes and cross trainers, guests can seamlessly contribute to powering the boat, which in turn will sail along the Seine on its route through the city, providing access to anybody who wants it. The Paris Navigating Gym investigates the potential of harnessing human power, at the same time producing a new urban experience and envisioning ways to further integrate the river in the city’s mobility infrastructure.The Navigating Gym will allow Parisians to inhabit the river all year long. The augmented-reality screens installed on the boat will show guests both the quantity of energy sourced from the workout, and data about the Seine’s environmental conditions, tracked in real time by sensors incorporated on the vessel. Encased within a transparent glass covering, open in the summer, the gym allows an extraordinary view of the urban panorama. And at night, the boat can even be used for parties and celebrations.
The Navigating Gym will allow Parisians to inhabit the river all year long. The augmented-reality screens installed on the boat will show guests both the quantity of energy sourced from the workout, and data about the Seine’s environmental conditions, tracked in real time by sensors incorporated on the vessel. Encased within a transparent glass covering, open in the summer, the gym allows an extraordinary view of the urban panorama. And at night, the boat can even be used for parties and celebrations.
A project by Carlo Ratti Associati