Locker rooms are no longer solely a place for your members to change out of your work clothes and into their athletic attire before hitting the treadmill. Today, locker rooms are “changing” into much more.
What’s the hottest trend in locker room design/amenities?
An array of toiletries: 31%
Family changing rooms: 9%
Spa-like features: 54%
Natural lighting: 4%
Source: Online poll of 22 Club Industry’s Fitness Business Pro readers.
Trend Setting in the Locker Room
· More amenities (shampoo, hairdryers, razors, lotion, aftershave, etc.)
· Additional square footage (larger showers with changing areas, indoor waterfalls, separate relaxation rooms)
· Spa-like features (steam and sauna rooms, rain showers, cold plunge pools, relaxing music, meditation areas, etc.)
· Additional privacy (individual bathroom rooms instead of stalls, changing closets within the locker room, extinction of the gang shower)
· Electronic locks with keypads
· Family changing rooms (may also be used for unique populations such as transgender members and breast cancer patients, too)
· Natural lighting (increased use of frosted glass and skylights)
Locker Room Guidelines
The number one trick to designing a locker room is finding the balance between the quantity of lockers with the needs of the facility, says Doni Visani, senior principal at Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative. Although Visani says designing a locker room is more “art than science,” here are five tips:
· Long the norm in big cities, full-length lockers aren’t a necessity. If your members generally come in wearing casual attire, a half-sized locker should be large enough.
· For every piece of equipment that gets used by 10 people a day, you’ll need one locker. So, if you have 50 cardio pieces all of which are used by 10 people or more a day, you’ll need at least 50 lockers.
· Only three to five people can comfortably be in a single bay at once.
· Ideally, you’d like to always have an empty locker next to a member who is changing.
· Place towel drops at all locker room exits and throughout your locker area. These visual reminders can deter the temptation to take towels home.