James Develin Fitness and Rehabilitation Center

Hi, I'm Eric. I'm currently attending the Jackson Walnut Park school in Newton, Massachusetts. I really enjoy playing football with friends, going skiing, and playing soccer. I had a lot of fun designing this project. I hope that you to will have fun learning about how I made this gym!

I wanted to enter into this contest for three reasons:

1. I love designing and building things. When I was small I'd build cardboard forts and weaponry and have fun battling with my brothers. I now enjoy 3D modeling a lot too.

2. I've been a big fan of James Develin and when I found this contest on a website somewhere I was like "I gotta do this"

3. My younger brother's Ipad recently broke and he has been using my computer for school so I was thinking that an Ipad or computer from this contest could help

All you need is some type of architectural design platform. I chose to learn and use FormIt but there are many other great softwares out there.

Before I started this project, I knew how to use Tinkercad and Fusion 360. When I watched the first Make it Big and saw James Develin and some other people's FormIt designs, I realized that FormIt was a pretty cool software that might be better for architectural modeling, so I decided to learn how to use it (at least basically).

Below are links to the videos I used:

FormIt Snippets Playlist

FormIt Friday - Episode 1

FormIt Friday - Episode 2

FormIt Friday - Episode 3

FormIt Friday - Episode 4

FormIt Friday - Episode 5

I made a list of the objects that I wanted to include in the gym; I didn't include all of them in the design because I didn't feel the need to jam everything. Objects could be later added though.

Below is a list:

• Hand sanitizer stations
• Face mask holders
• Battle ropes
• Bouncy balls
• Yoga mats
• Exercise bands
• Dumbbells
• Leg weights
• Arm pull together machines
• Arm pull down machines
• Rowing machine
• Treadmill
• Reception Desk
• Office
• Staircases that go to nowhere
• Staircases that go to somewhere
• Pool
• Hot tub
• Mini golf
• Solar Panels on roof
• Rock climbing wall
• Run up wall/ramp
• Monkey bars
• Track
• Bathrooms

I wanted to choose a place in Massachusetts because that is where I live, and because there are many available lots around here. I settled to choose one in Boston because that is where a lot of people are. I then looked up on Google Maps where most of the gyms in the Greater Boston Area were because gyms usually open around a certain area for a reason. This worked and I found a nice lot near where all the other gyms were. The building will be built over the parking lot so it won't affect the surrounding area and overall environment by cutting down trees.

Below is the address:

24 Stimson St.

Boston, MA 02132

I started off by outlining what the shape of the gym would look like on FormIt. I then drew it down on a piece of paper. I chose to make an outdoor mini-golf course but I was debating if it should be a spinning area instead. I added doors, I was thinking that to make the entrance door COVID safe, it might want to be a sliding one. I put a reception desk where members could check in, a small pool and hot tub, a yoga room, sports medicine/physical therapy room, an office, and restrooms. I don't really know what Ladies restrooms look like because I've never been in one so bear with me if it doesn't look so good. I was thinking that right after the entrance could be a land equipment type area with treadmills, weights, lateral pull machines, and etc.

Now that I have the basic layout ready, I can move on to transferring it into FormIt.

I started off by making the golf course, this took me around 20 minutes. I made a bin for the golf clubs, a small square shape to hold the golf balls and a rough outline of some mini-golf courses—you get the idea. I then added in my FormIt library—I took a bunch of libraries that I found online, combined them, and took out the things I didn't want. There were desks, chairs, trees, beds, etc. You can find it here. I put in trees to simulate the actual surrounding environment. Lastly, I put in walls for the actual gym building. I left the top off because in the next step I'm going build the more sophisticated inner building structure.

This is when I started putting my paper design into 3D. I started off with the reception desk, then I added in all the walls and then all the equipment. I decided not to fill the rooms with all the gym equipment because I don't really know what type of equipment is good for what type of stuff and because it would take a very long time to design. I did, however, put in some stuff so that you get the general gist of the idea. The area to your right when you enter the gym is supposed to be a land equipment area which James could fill with NFL class equipment. I think that the selling line (or whatever you call it) of the gym could be something along the lines of "At J.D. gym we strive to provide a world-class gym to everyone. BOOO-YA." And yes, you have to include the "BOO-YA" ;)

(The hyperlink is step 5 has a file of the .axm file of the gym included in it)

I had a blast learning how to use FormIt and it was so fun to design the actual gym. Because of this contest, I kind of want to be an architect or designer when I grow up. Thanks so much for this opportunity and it would be an honor for James Develin to any part of my design in his actual gym. I would greatly appreciate if you could vote for me in the contest. And hey, maybe you'll be seeing these gyms in your city someday!

Until then, Stay safe,

Eric Zhang