In the port city of Valencia, on the southeast coast of Spain is located this project of the Horma Estudio: the Be Balance gym.

Starting from a different concept of gym in which body and mind are cared for, Horma plays with the lighting, the materials and the color range within a premises whose pre-established structure was characterized by its parallelism and its accentuated geometric shape.
For the Be Balance gym, the Horma Estudio continues its line of understanding architecture as a personal experience that allows each client to turn the project into a unique reality according to the needs. In this case, being a project facing the public, the users themselves are the ones who enjoy a feeling of privacy and exclusivity.

In turn, it deals with a different gym concept, understood as a balance between body and mind. For this, it starts from a pre-established geometric structure in which public and private spaces flow. In addition, a single color range along with a pleasant materiality invade the entire gym giving an image of simplicity helping the concentration of users.
 

Project description by Horma Estudio

The project was born with the premise of reinterpreting the space for personal care through exercise. A gym concept understood more as an attention and exhaustive control of the body as a whole than as a merely sporty exercise. Therefore, the space must allow to develop a type of training not only based on the physical, but also accompanied by a mental and sensory development, which will allow the body to achieve the desired balance.

Based on this starting concept, the place to start working offers apparently contradictory and restrictive conditions, with a very marked structure, a hard and symmetrical geometry and a depth emphasized by the proportion of the room to a background without lighting.

The structure that invades the central part of the space appears as an aggressive conditioner since its rigidity initially limits any type of more fluid approach. On the other hand, the intended use of the space requires high privacy from its users, who must be able to train with an individual and exclusive perception, in an atmosphere of tranquility, silence and concentration.

With these starting premises, geometry becomes the main tool of the project. A square in the center of the space, rotated 45 degrees on the dividing axes manages to free the structure, leaving it included in the spaces intended for service uses and excluded from the circulation space. This change of direction allows a constant geometric dialogue throughout the space that hides some spaces from each other, guaranteeing the required privacy, while constantly suggesting the following sequence to discover. The space of movement, therefore, becomes the true architect of the intended and finally achieved objectives.

A single color gamut runs through the entire project, silencing the view and allowing the user to be guided only through the succession of planes that define each area of ​​use. Compression and decompression indicate where to stop to access the different spaces.

The central square, the origin square of the project strategy, is the place where public uses come together and works as an interchange in constant activity.

Materially, the carpet on which the circulation space runs helps to change the user's perception from access, working as a first step in the disconnection process that he must experience. As you move through space, everyday life is getting further and further and the body and mind are preparing for their moment. Along with the succession of monochrome materials that dress the space, a studied set of reflections allow the perception of natural light to be expanded from the different points of the project.

Simplicity, light, geometry and materiality work in solidarity to prevent anyone else from altering the body's concentration.

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Architects
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Project team
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Nacho Juan, Clara Cantó, José Iborra, Ana Riera, Andrés Herrero, Marta Ordóñez, María Mateo.
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Area
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248 m²
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Dates
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2019
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Location
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Felix Pizcueta St. nº5, Valencia, Spain.
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HORMA is an architectural studio founded and directed by Nacho Juan and Clara Cantó. Both, together with Jose Iborra, coordinate the work of the rest of the team and the development of each of the projects. 

Their job is to understand architecture as a personal experience that allows each client to turn their project into a unique reality according to their needs. The architecture, learned and developed from the passion and the knowledge, allows us to read each project as a new opportunity to continue growing.

Recently recognized in the selection of emerging architecture of the Valencian Community and in the mention received by the Official College of Architects of the Valencian Community, from the studio we continue working every day to get the best project for each of our clients. Architecture and interior design, merged into a single line of work, allow us to develop our projects from the first line of their idea to the last detail.

NACHO JUAN, Director - Puerto de Sagunto, 1983
2016 | Doctor architect by the Technical School of Architecture of Valencia. Outstanding Cumlaude. 
2016 - Deputy Director School of Architecture at the University Ceu Cardenal Herrera 
2013 - Director Master's Degree in Interior Design at the University Ceu Cardenal Herrera 
2012 - Co-director of the graphic architecture communication studio Drawyourdreams 
2009 - Professor at the Ceu Cardenal Herrera University 
2008 | Architect with Honorary Degree by the School of Architecture of Valencia 

CLARA CANTÓ, Director - Líria, 1983
2015 - Professor of Master in interior design at the University Ceu Cardenal Herrera 
2012 - Co-director of the graphic architecture communication studio Drawyourdreams 
2010 - 2011 | Master in Prefabrication and Architectural Industrialization. 
2009 | Architect with Honorary Degree by the School of Architecture of Valencia

JOSE IBORRA, Coordinator - Murcia, 1987
2014 - Professor at the architectural graphic communication studio Drawyourdreams 
2012 | Architect by the Technical School of Architecture of Valencia

AWARDS   
2017 | 2nd Prize. Square Félix Rodríguez de la Fuente Contest. Canet d'en Berenguer. 
2012 | 4th Classified Solar Decathlon Europe. Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera. SML system 2011 | 2nd Prize. Competition Auditorium Ciutat d'Elx. Collaboration with Clara Mejía, Juan Deltell and Guillermo Mocholí. 
2011 | 2nd Prize. Competition for the marina of Denia. Collaboration with Clara Mejía, Juan Deltell, Guillermo Mocholí and Lahoz + Martí architects. 
2008 | Finalist. Multipurpose building competition at the Miguel Delibes Campus. University of Valladolid. Collaboration with Clara Mejía, Juan Deltell and Guillermo Mocholí. 3rd Grade ETSAV Social Council Award. 
2008 | Finalist. Verni Contest • Preys for the Design of a Prefabricated Concrete Piece. ETSAV. Collaboration with Sergio Artola, Alejandro Gómez and Ángel López de Ocáriz. 
2007 | 1a Honorable Mention Hispalyt Ceramic Chair Contest. Brick Interpretation Center in Seville. Collaboration with Sergio Artola, Alejandro Gómez and Ángel López de Ocáriz. 
2006 | 1st Prize. Verni Contest • Prens for the Design of a Prefabricated Concrete Piece. ETSAV. Collaboration with Sergio Artola, Alejandro Gómez and Ángel López de Ocáriz. 2005 | 1st prize XV Iberian Contest of Constructive Solutions PLADUR. Pavilion M2012. ETSAV. Collaboration with Sergio Artola, Alejandro Gómez and Ángel López de Ocáriz.

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