Beyond Yoga is a studio that offers a host of fitness classes. These classes always require the body to accelerate in speed, stretch, twist, contort, and even hold certain positions within a period of time. The activities held within are actually not only physical but are spiritual practices that train people to self observe and to become self aware, with the ultimate purpose of cultivating discernment, self-regulation, and higher consciousness. Different forms of energies that are believed to be all around us are then harnessed to achieve these goals.
These energies are imagined architecturally and physically translated as ceiling as fins, or ‘energy lines’, that drape over the spaces and morph in direction, function, and shape, depending on the forces it wants to express. Always suggesting movement and connectivity, these ceiling fins start out in the entry and lounge areas and are positioned in a way that magnetizes the onlookers to enter the studios within, to experience the serenity that the space and the classes may bring. They twist and turn as they try to engulf the spaces it passes through, finally evolving into a ‘dia-grid’ (diagonal grid) that resembles the gentle and soothing ripples of water.
The result is a space that is fluid in function, form, and feeling; yet dynamic and inspired; an apt backdrop that simply echoes the qualities of the activities within.
Project Team: Principal Architect – Jason Buensalido; Lead Project Architect – Jerome Bautista; Project Architects – Nitz Balce, Reese Onozawa; Technical Innovations Architects – Ed Canda