BY JACKSON CHEN | An Upper East Side nonprofit sports and fitness organization that has been redoing its indoor facilities since late August presented an intriguing preview of the changes afoot at a December 16 meeting of Community Board 8.
Asphalt Green is spending $2.2 million to renovate four of the five floors of its Murphy Center, which now houses an indoor track, an artificial turf field, programming spaces, meeting spaces, and locker rooms.
In taking steps to modernize the fitness options it offers, Asphalt Green is converting the second floor into an interactive, light-filled workout facility called PRAMA. Designed by Pavigym, an international company that offers tailored fitness options, PRAMA employs LED-lighting and touch-based sensors to provide an innovative, even dazzling workout environment.
Members working out at PRAMA will go through a cycle of tasks assigned by a trainer, while enveloped in a room of shifting mood lighting and lighted markers.
“It’s really easy to pick up because there’s visual cues,” said Asphalt Green’s chief program officer Jeff Ward. “For athletes, it also allows you to program things so you’re learning how to react.”
According to Ward, PRAMA offers members a customized workout that addresses their fitness needs and goals across the board.
“[Members] might do weight lifting and that makes them stronger, or they run and that helps their endurance,” Ward said. “Really, you want to be working in at least three different areas in terms of your fitness: strength, endurance, and your functional movement.”
Ward said that PRAMA will be able to serve the diverse range of skills and ages among Asphalt Green’s membership, whether they want to focus on injury prevention or balance and flexibility.
“We wanted something that really spoke to all those things,” said Ward. “And we wanted something that was presented in a way that was engaging and fun.”
One floor above the light-filled fitness center, Asphalt Green is relocating its spinning room from the Aqua Center to the Murphy Center’s third floor, according to its plans. As for the fourth floor, the organization has largely completed the conversion of basketball courts into an artificial turf soccer field, Ward said.
While the indoor turf field is already in use, Asphalt Green is expecting to complete the renovations for the PRAMA facility and spinning room by mid-February 2016. The first floor, which includes locker room renovations and the addition of bleacher-style seating, will be tackled in spring 2016 and be completed by June, according to Ward.
Asphalt Green is also considering renovations for its Aqua Center that houses an Olympic-sized pool and fitness centers. Those plans, however, have not been finalized, Ward said, except that replacement of the five-story center’s elevators has been agreed on.
