Dezeen Magazine

Illoiha Omotesando climbing wall by Nendo

Illoiha Omotesando climbing wall by Nendo

This project has been around for a while - we first saw it on jeansnow.net a few months ago - but Japanese designers Nendo have finally sent us some decent-sized images of their climbing wall at the new Illoiha Omotesando fitness club in Tokyo.

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The highlight is this climbing wall made of English stately home-style accessories such as picture frames and deer heads instead of the usual rock-shaped holds.

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Photos are by Daici Ano.

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Here is some text from Nendo:

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The second branch of the ILLOIHA fitness club is located on two below-ground floors of a building. Since the gym is spread out over the two floors, we decided to use a studio with an unusual two-story ceiling to unify the space.

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To express the original brand concept of "becoming beautiful through movement", we chose the theme "rock-climbing on Omotesando" and developed a design that uses the mismatch between a rugged outdoor sport and Tokyo's fashion district to its advantage.

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Instead of the usual rough and outdoorsy climbing wall, we came up with the idea of using interior design elements like picture frames, mirrors, deer heads, bird cages and flower vases to create a challenging wall with hard-to-find holds and unusual finger grips. We hope that our uniquely Omotesando-style climbing wall inspires newcomers to try out the sport, and starts a new wave in fitness with style.