The Paris Navigating Gym | CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati

A project by Carlo Ratti Associati (team: Carlo Ratti, Emma Greer, Edoardo Bosio, Andrea Galli, Andrea Giordano, Alberto Bottero, Gary di Silvio)
Co-design: Terreform ONE
Fitness strategy: Technogym
Mainland fitness concept: Optraker
Business strategy: URBEM
Urban strategy: UR Lab

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 type 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. Human powered energy will be supplemented by renewables, such as photovoltaic cells on the gym roof. Activated by electric propellers, the Paris Navigating Gym will sail along the Seine on its route through the city, providing access to anybody who wants it.

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.