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Alice Lane
Health Club 

Location
Sandton, Johannesburg

​Client
Virgin Active

Architects
Tonic Design

​Completed
2013

Photographer
Natalie Payne

Alice Lane Health Club was the first of a new breed of Health Clubs, Virgin Active Classic, for so called ‘world class cities.’ Gone was the factory aesthetic, pumping music and industrial high bays. Virgin Active claimed exercising in the lounge was more fun. As opposed to a mechanical challenge, it’s the mood, or if you like warm the atmosphere that greets one. That was a shift towards added comfort for the client. Gone are the downlights. One is greeted under a soft comfortable blanket of light and indirectly lit arcade walls. The red off-centre stairs detract from the cosy lounge with individual interior luminaries that add definition to the atmosphere. Much of the lighting is custom, bespoke design, integrated into shopfitting and fixtures. Luminaires are floating disks and panels with differing colour temperatures in different areas to, not only demarcate the various activity zones but to complement the various activities in an appropriate ambience. Profile spotlights cast gobo dots onto the off-shuttered ceiling above the pool and red LED in the handrail defines the edge of each step of the glossy Caesar-stone swung stair. Above, seemingly floating but suspended irregular amorphic mirror disks mingle the reflections from below with the reflected light from the different exercise areas – announcing each space on the upper floor. The wide bands of LED lighting from floor to floor are graphically decorative and functional, all in one. Fully programmable, RGB colour control allows instructors to set the mood for their specific session, be it anti-gravity yoga, trix, power plate or pilates.

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