The Renovation of Garware Health Club, Wankhede Stadium
The Physiology of Performance and Recovery
In the shadow of Mumbai’s iconic Wankhede Stadium, where floodlights blaze and the energy of sport is relentless, the renovation of Garware Health Club byShashi Prabhu & Associates serves as a fundamental architectural contrast. If the stadium is the roar of the crowd, the new club is the focused intake of breath before the sprint.
How should a space perform when the body is pushed to its physical limits, and how must it respond when that same body seeks restoration? For over five decades, our practice positioned at the intersection of sport and healthcare, has been shaped by this inquiry. The renovation of the Garware Health Club is a contemporary response to that cycle—a recalibration of performance and wellness within one of India’s most charged sporting environments.
Reimagined for a community of over 15,000 members, the project transforms a legacy institution into an intuitive and enduring environment, one that is used not occasionally but daily by its members as an extension of their own home.
Since its completion, the success of this restorative approach is reflected in a nearly three hundred percent increase in daily footfall by members choosing to treat the facility as a destination rather than a brief stop.
The first floor is conceived as the "Engine of Movement," where a large gymnasium unfolds alongside dedicated zones for Pilates, functional training, and yoga. Cardiovascular First floor Gymequipment is aligned along a glazed edge overlooking the pool, allowing physical movement to unfold against a dynamic visual field.
To counter the vibrational nuisance of the dropping weights, the design utilizes a 25 mm thick rubber flooring installed over a ceramic underlayment to increase mass and vibration dampening.
Overhead, a seamless tensile fabric ceiling creates a diffused, shadowless "luminous sky which is not merely a decorative gesture but a performative one, engineered with high tension limits to reduce visual fatigue and enhance focus, lending the gym a sense of quiet expansiveness.
The transition between high-intensity performance and deep recovery is articulated through a sculptural black helical metal staircase set against a living wall. More than a simple connector, the ascent marks a deliberate movement from elevated heart rate s to composed breathing. While the staircase radius was optimized for the available structural footprint, its form serves as the project’s defining sensory threshold.
On the upper level, architectural energy softens into a tactile, European-inspired spa environment. Here, the material palette shifts to lime-plastered walls and "crazy patterned” stone flooring prioritizing texture and light over rigid form to create a sense of familiarity and ease.
At the center of the upper floor lies the "Glowing Core," a vivid orange glass volume that anchors the locker spaces in a warm, ambient glow.
The wellness experience culminates in the wet areas, where pine-scented saunas evoke Nordic forests, and a state-of-the-art Jacuzzi serves as a tropical tableau hidden within Mumbai’s dense fabric.
The treatment rooms are designed as immersive retreats, featuring continuous plastered envelopes and fiber-optic starry ceilings that create deeply personal, cocoon-like environments.
Much of the project’s complexity remains unseen, integrated into the infrastructure through solar-powered hot water systems and advanced pressure management.
By orchestrating a cohesive framework for both performance and pause, the Garware Health Club does not compete with the spectacle of the Wankhede.
It completes it.
Project Overview
- Architects:Shashi Prabhu & Associates
- Location:Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India
- Project Year:2024–2026
- Project Team:Vaibhav Kadam, Omkar Lingayat
- Photographs:Sam Pix Photography