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Interior designers interviewed by Livingetc say home gyms remain part of luxury residential projects, but their role is changing. Rather than treating them as equipment rooms, designers describe spaces planned alongside the architecture and sometimes connected to recovery amenities such as saunas or cold plunges. The report does not provide market data or establish whether social workout trends are reducing demand for home gyms.
Home gyms remain in demand in luxury residential projects, but interior designers say they are increasingly planned as part of a home’s wider design and wellness offering rather than treated as rooms for exercise equipment alone. A Livingetc report on how home gyms may look in 2027 describes more attention to location, natural light, materials and links to recovery spaces, even as group workouts and fitness studios make exercise more social.
Interior designer Nina Maya told Livingetc that home gyms remain an important part of the brief for modern luxury homes. She said the biggest change is the ambition behind the spaces: clients are thinking about how homes can support movement, recovery and time alone, and gyms are being considered earlier in the architectural process.
Rebecca Hughes, another designer interviewed for the report, also described continued demand. She said gyms that were once largely functional are now being treated as part of a home’s overall design and lifestyle. Examples cited include a gym in a historic home combining contemporary fitness facilities with original timber beams, and a project where equipment sits beside garden and pool views.
Gabriele Zanni, co-founder of fitness-equipment company Alama Studio, said residential clients want gyms to feel like a natural part of the home. Designers described interest in integrated storage, natural light, warm materials and equipment with timber or leather finishes. Maya also pointed to designs that place exercise areas near saunas, steam rooms or cold plunges, with room for stretching and quieter activities.
From Equipment Room to Wellness Space
The shift described by the designers changes what a home gym is expected to do. Instead of serving only as a convenient place to train, it may be designed to support several routines, including exercise, stretching and recovery. That can affect the room’s placement, lighting, materials and relationship to outdoor space, as well as whether it is planned with other amenities.
The trend also speaks to a tension in how people exercise. The report opens with the rise of run clubs, group Pilates and other social fitness activities, which can make workouts a way to meet friends. But the designers’ accounts suggest those activities have not made private workout spaces irrelevant for their clients. A home gym offers convenience and privacy; social studios offer group settings and varied classes. The report does not show how households generally weigh those options.
For homeowners considering a gym, the design implications are practical: equipment may need to work visually within the home, and a dedicated room can require more planning than fitting a treadmill into a spare corner. The designers’ comments concern luxury residential projects, however, and should not be taken as evidence of demand across all housing types or budgets.
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How Residential Gym Design Has Evolved
Livingetc’s report asks whether the growing popularity of social fitness could reduce interest in home gyms. Its answer is based on interviews with designers and an equipment-industry representative, not a survey, sales figures or a broad measure of gym construction. The article frames its outlook around 2027, but does not offer a quantified forecast for the market.
The people interviewed describe a move away from rooms defined mainly by a treadmill, bench and weights. Maya said fitness spaces are increasingly considered early in a project, with attention to their outlook and links to other rooms. Hughes described a similar change in how these spaces are styled, while Zanni said equipment and interiors are being considered together. Their examples point to a more integrated, residential approach, though they do not establish how widely it is being adopted.
“What was once often a purely functional space is now being considered an integral part of the home’s overall design and lifestyle offering.”
— Rebecca Hughes, founder of Rebecca Hughes Interiors, speaking to Livingetc
What the Report Does Not Measure
The report does not provide market statistics, sales data or survey results to show whether home gyms are becoming more or less common. Its assessment of continued demand comes from interviews with professionals working in luxury residential design and fitness equipment. It is not clear how the trends described apply to smaller homes, renters or households with tighter budgets.
Nor does the report establish whether social fitness activities are replacing home workouts, or whether people use both. Its reference to 2027 is a design outlook, not a dated forecast supported by quantified evidence. The extent to which wellness facilities such as saunas and cold plunges will become standard, rather than remain features of high-end projects, is also unclear.
What to Watch in Future Projects
The next evidence of this shift will come from how new residential projects are designed and described: whether gyms are planned from the outset, how often they connect to recovery amenities, and whether equipment is selected to complement interior finishes. The designers interviewed by Livingetc expect the emphasis on integrated wellness spaces to continue, but the report sets no specific project, deadline or industry milestone to track.
For now, the clearest confirmed takeaway is limited to the interviewees’ experience: they continue to see demand in luxury homes, with greater attention to design and broader wellness use. Whether that represents a wider housing trend, and how social fitness affects home-gym use, remains open.
Key Questions
Are home gyms still in demand?
Designers interviewed by Livingetc said they continue to see demand in luxury residential projects. The report does not include market data to measure demand across the housing market as a whole.
How are home gyms changing?
The designers describe a move from equipment-focused rooms toward spaces considered as part of the home’s architecture and interiors. Features they mentioned include natural light, garden views, integrated storage and warmer finishes.
Are home gyms being combined with recovery facilities?
Maya said some designs place gyms alongside amenities such as saunas, steam rooms or cold plunges, with space for stretching and quieter activities. The report does not say how common these combinations are.
Does social fitness mean people are giving up home workouts?
The report raises that possibility but does not provide evidence that people are replacing home workouts with group exercise. Its interviewees said they still see demand for home gyms among their clients.
Source: livingetc.com
