3 Business.

Urban fitness
1.
MyEquilibria
showroom

BRANCHING OUT

Laura Rysman reporting from Veneto:

An Italian company has taken inspiration
from nature to design a graceful outdoor gym.
The collaboration, using specially developed
materials, is robust enough to survive in public
spaces but beautiful enough to avoid ruining
them. photographed by Sebastiano Rossi

Gian Luca Innocenzi swings open a custom-made,

garage-size steel door to reveal his new creation. In
the high-ceilinged showroom, sunlight streams in from
above and ignites the boughs of a tree. But this is no
ordinary tree: it is a seven-metre tall, moulded-concrete
sculpture with branches that curve upwards. In fact it
is the centrepiece of a gym built for the outdoors and it
is Innocenzis brainchild, four years in the making.
I wanted something that would harmonise with
nature, says the fitness and wellness expert. The
more beautiful something is, the more you want to
use it. The tree (a prototype of the final design) is
surrounded by islands of push-up handles and elastic
resistance bands; sit-up benches and balance boards;
monkey bars, trapeze rings and pulley ropes.
But the finished product belies the arduous story of
how it came to be. It was during a session in the drab
indoor gym of a Maldives resort while all the other
visitors enjoyed the sunshine that Innocenzi dreamt
up an outdoor workout space that would integrate
functionality with a clean aesthetic. He imagined it
offering equipment versatile enough for diverse fitness
practices. He revealed the concept to Vito Di Bari, a
Miami-based Italian whose design firm specialises in
forward-looking monuments and art installations for
cities. I was sure Gian Luca would be successful with
his idea, says Di Bari, so I wanted to help him make
sure that our parks werent invaded by these horrible
workout machines that look like Transformers.
Di Bari began with the notion of equilibrium
between ourselves and the nature around us and
nature for humans is symbolised by the tree. He took
the building blocks of humanity cells and designed
a towering tree with branches in the shape of cells,

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3 Business. Urban fitness

NOTES: SITTING COMFORTABLY

a fusion of humans and nature. The team called the

project MyEquilibria. The final prototype looks a bit
like it might be a prop in a Hollywood sci-fi film but
its certainly eye-catching and will surely be a hit with
anyone who liked Avatar.
Innocenzi describes the central tree as a sort of
totem but as well as attracting attention it also acts
as the anchor for the multi-use equipment fastened
to its trunk, which was developed in collaboration
with the Miami-based Wellment company. But it was
the sculptural tree itself that proved to be the initial
problem. An outdoor gym must be made to resist the
pushes and pulls of human bodies as well as decades of
battering by the elements. Knocking on factory doors
across Europe, time and time again Innocenzi found
himself rebuffed by manufacturers who believed that
the project required a material that did not yet exist.
Then he met Alfredo Tasca, founder of streetfurniture manufacturer Metalco and a designer who
believes in city furnishings as tools of social integration.
The inventor and the industrialist each recognised in the
other a worthy partner. Based in Castelminio di Resana, a
small town in the industrialised region of Veneto in Italys
northeast, Metalco (see panel, opposite) creates everything
from benches to bike racks, rubbish bins to plant holders.
Six months prior to meeting Innocenzi, Tasca had begun
manufacturing playgrounds and saw that MyEquilibria
was an evolution of that work. I liked the social aspect of
bringing people together.
Realising that this project would require an
extraordinary material, Tasca turned to Il Cantiere, the
innovative concrete company renowned for bringing
complex projects (such as Zaha Hadid staircases) to
life. He partnered with the firm to create a material
capable of turning MyEquilibria into a reality.
It took a year to develop a suitable material an
ultra-high-performance concrete mixed with resin and
rocks reinforced with carbon fibres that would prove
up to 10 times stronger than regular concrete and as
flexible as metal. This material was then moulded over
a steel frame and MyEquilibria was brought to life.

As cities struggle to keep their growing populations

healthy, government plans increasingly include the
construction of outdoor gyms among their wellness
projects. These adult playgrounds are not only a
solution to rising obesity levels: they are also relatively
democratic, offering fee-free equipment that brings
together all levels of society with little needed in the
way of supervision and maintenance.
Tasca and Innocenzi are now honing their pitch.
MyEquilibria will come in modifiable configurations
from 50 to 500 sq m, the largest accommodating up to
100 people. Priced between about 50,000 and 250,000,
depending on the size, the gyms are aimed at city parks
and public beaches, as well as corporate campuses, hotels,
resorts and private homes. Production will begin in
January 2016; several cities in Italys northeast have already
expressed an interest but the team behind MyEquilibria
has ambitions far beyond the countrys borders.
In the 19th century, urban parks came to be
appreciated for their health benefits as much as for their
beauty by citizens choked by the polluted air and gritty
reality. In the 1960s, fitness trails woodsy running
paths dotted with workout equipment proliferated
in Europe as exercise and nature started to gain an
affinity. Now, when we are desperate to reclaim nature
and govern our health, we may soon find ourselves
gathered around a concrete tree. (m)

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1.
Metalcos team with
Gian Luca Innocenzi
(second from right)
2.
MyEquilibria leaves
3.
Metalcos outdoor
showroom
4.
Special corten steel
treatment by Metalco
5.
Metalco workshop
6.
All-in-one bike rack,
helmet locker and
rubbish bin designed
by Studiodieci
7.
Recycling bin for
Venice Airport

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the monocle forecast 2016

When Alfredo Tasca founded Metalco

in 1984, he claims that no one else
was manufacturing street furniture
for the urban environment and that
cities were throwing wooden planks
together and calling them benches.
While many may disagree, Metalcos
influence on the designs that shape our
everyday experience in todays cities is
undeniable. The huge manufacturing
headquarters is filled with a team of
100 operators, artisans, researchers
and designers. They are creating the
range of urban outdoor decor and
fixtures, visible in 4,000 cities, in
steel, aluminium, wood and with
the recent collaboration between
Tasca and Il Cantiere ultra-highperformance concrete.
Tesla Supercharger stations and
interactive information points for the
Paris Mtro are built alongside welldesigned billboard frames destined for
Brussels and recycling bins for Venices
airport. More than 5,000 sq m of solar
panels installed on the rooftop generate
enough solar energy to power Metalcos
entire operation. Tascas passion is
communality: benches, his favourites, are
a tool for sociability, part of what he
calls the outdoor urban living room.