It’s a well-known fact that exercise encourages productivity. Starbucks President, Michelle Gass, wakes up every morning at exactly 4:30am and goes for a run. Her up-and-at-‘em routine, she believes, boosts her personal happiness and business success. “When I’m at my best, it’s because I’m taking care of myself.” Similarly, Avon CEO Andrea Jung wakes up at 5am, hits the gym and is at her desk by eight am, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour is on the tennis court by six o’clock in the morning.*
What better way to encourage a productive start to the day than to have a state-of-the-art gym at your place of work. Global manufacturer of chemical and oil products, INEOS did just that by building a premium communal gym with cutting edge technology, for its central London headquarters.
Award-winning audio visual specialists Electric String collaborated with automated technology experts Crestron, to create an audio, video and control system which gives a new dimension to the gym user experience. Unlike most communal gym spaces, the INEOS gym allows individuals to control their own workout experience by selecting tailored media content and audio, rather than force-feeding mass content to all users.
Rob Sullivan, Commercial Director commented;
“The real key was to give gym users fully flexible control and access to whatever content they desired from the installed system, something which is simply not possible in most gym situations.”
Gym users are provided access to:
- Instructor Microphone
- Internet Radio
- AirPlay from Instructor for classes
- AirPlay from individual gym users
- Streaming audio “virtual jukebox”
- Blu-Ray/CD
- Satellite TV
- Freeview TV
- Plug-in point for 3rd party device
Bespoke content for a unique employee workout:
The easy-to-navigate Crestron interface, available on stylish Crestron touch screens, is a key aspect to ensure that the system complemented, rather than complicated, each user’s exercise programme, allowing them to focus solely on their workout. Electric String worked with INEOS to create a customised interface, and provided training for the gym’s instructors to ensure an effortless process.
Materials and equipment in the gym including mirrors, hard floors, glass and metal workout machines, meant that precise control of the acoustics was required to achieve the highest sound quality. In addition, Crestron’s advanced signal processing allows the sound to be optimised for each individual user, for crystal clear audio. Gym users can select different audio and video sources so that on-demand workout plans can be displayed along with personalised entertainment.
Electric String supplied video to the displays via a Crestron DM matrix, giving the highest quality images possible from the source devices and at the same time allowing virtually limitless flexibility in configuration of the distributed content. At the front of the spin studio, for example, there is a 98” screen mounted from the ceiling with three supplementary displays along the length of the space – all of which can display different content.
Jonny Ginns, Group General Counsel, INEOS Holdings Limited commented;
“We had to combine several complex lighting, audio and training software packages behind the scenes, and yet present gym users with a very simple user interface via the Crestron touch screens, which were designed and programmed for our requirements. The team achieved exactly that and our users love it.”
The project was such a success that the client is now using the gym as a blueprint for future gym designs across their worldwide offices, promoting an enjoyable way to exercise and increasing employee productivity.
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