Next level gym
A deconsecrated church in Amsterdam’s Oud-Zuid offered two things money can’t buy: soul and scale.
Our brief was to transform it into a next-level gym without diluting the building’s character. The strategy was adaptive reuse with a light touch: protect the stained glass and vaulted geometry, then insert contemporary layers. Like stone, metal, light, that celebrate movement and elevate the ritual of training.
Arrival sets the tone. A sculpted, S-shaped reception desk in richly veined “laborite” stone anchors the ground floor and doubles as brand statement. Opposite, a banquette traces the rhythm of the arched windows; the original stained glass becomes a living graphic, filtering daylight by day and glowing like a lantern wall after dusk.
A new VIP deck hovers behind the desk, wrapped in custom metal screens that echo the church’s latticework and offer sightlines across the floor. From here the energy of the building is legible at once: a place of performance where congregation becomes community.
We re-planned the basement for generous men’s and women’s locker rooms. Calm, bright, and hotel-level in finish. Mirrored volumes expand the footprint, while back-lit stone vanities and woven-leather islands lend tactility. Adjacent sits Holy Shred, a black-box training studio choreographed entirely by light. A programmable LED grid tracks intervals and routes, turning cardio into theatre and coaching into choreography.
The nave carries the heavy lifting. Under soaring ceilings, strength and conditioning zones are arranged around a central void, connecting visually with the lounge below and the stained-glass “altars” beyond. Equipment pods sit on floating platforms to protect the historic slab and tune acoustics; concealed absorptive panels and a resilient floor isolate impact noise.
Old existing pendants reinterpret ecclesiastical lanterns and can shift from warm hospitality to high-octane color ways for events.
Materiality is a conversation between reverence and rave: graphite marble, patinated bronze, blackened steel and smoky mirrors tempered by deep velvet upholstery. Detailing stays clean and legible.
Linear LED in stair treads guides circulation and doubles as safety lighting; integrated signage and monogrammed metalwork reinforce brand without shouting.
The plan reinforces flow and motivation. Clear axes and framed vistas ensure you always see your next destination: reception to weights, lounge to studio, deck to nave. The dramatic tiered stained-glass installation becomes both backdrop and barometer; as scenes shift through the day, the building seems to breathe with the workouts.
The result is a gym with a civic scale and a private-club finish.
It respects the sanctity of the shell and harnesses it for contemporary purpose, a space where ritual, light and sound focus the mind, amplify the body, and turn a workout into a shared, unforgettable experience.
