Proximity of body & mind : urban gym as a heterotopic domain

Abstract

In the present urban space, where an individual is exposed to the conditions of heterogeneity and anonymity, a conventional Bodybuilding Gym opens up certain issues of emplacement of un/nder-spoken men's body and its close(t)ed placement in the society. While the rituals of entering and exiting the gym and 'building' the muscularity raise questions of men's reflected societal states in North America, the changing social appreciation of the 'new' body images, and emerging holistic approach of wellness of body-mind have become the thresholds to rethink the previously hyper-masculine gym space and to reinvent a way to accommodate these new conditions. I have explored the design of a contemporary gym as a subterranean-heterotopic- site rooted in the current urban context to reflect its various and changing socio-spatial identities of each user. The design focus is to recognize the updated characteristics of the user spaces when the gym is introduced with the new programs of Totality of Body-Mind, or, a further embodied Mind Zone coming into the body activity program concepts, to create new physical and psychological inter-relationships, or Proximity of Heterotopic Stages, to the individual users.