Ann Arbor, MI 2021
One-Way Gym is a carwash converted into a pool and gym that reassembles the objects, interactions, and bodies that construct these spaces. A place for reshaping the body of the car becomes a place for reshaping the body.
The objects that co-mingle within each space – a room for lifting and rehydrating, a room for changing and refreshing, a room for punching and kicking, a room for storing difficult-to-store things, and so on – create an atmosphere thick with the perspiration of bodies and materials. The pool, itself a body of water, spills out beyond the extents of the building’s original footprint.
Claustrophobic vignettes compose dense collections of things leaned within the rooms that run along the corridor. The ceiling tiles have been removed, but their gridded system remains as an armature for new situations. Roof panels slip and misalign, creating openings to the sky above. The water is divided by a lane rope and a façade that suggests a space for exercise and a space for leisure. Bodies of water seep, spill, absorb, evaporate, or condense on the skin of things throughout the building.
Project completed in Prof. Eduardo Mediero’s studio at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.
