A 6,000-Square-Foot Gym with a View Ensures Your Best Workout

There is only one way to stay true to your fitness goals: get a home gym. Science concurs, and so does anyone with an exorbitant athletic club membership (or even a modestly priced one). The cardio equivalent of a personal chef, a home gym offers a serious trade—absolute convenience for total accountability. Distance, traffic, time—witness every excuse evaporate. Award-winning architect Grant Kirkpatrick, whose L.A.-based studio KAA Design Group celebrates its 30th anniversary this year (with a fantastic design tome) knows this space. His private custom fitness areas are real architectural moments, not exercises in how to cram sleek equipment into a space.

For one project in Santa Monica, Kirkpatrick created a 6,000-square-foot custom gym and pool complex. The challenging hillside site inspired an unusual design, one in which the gym and spa area are tucked below the existing cantilevered tennis court to preserve the surrounding landscape. In addition to the tennis court, the new spa features workout facilities, an Olympic lap pool, a steam room, spa baths, and a lounge. Here, Kirkpatrick walks us through every pulse-quickening design element.