As sobered-up millennials and Zoomers bypass bars to seek community through fitness classes instead, sports clubs have been (somewhat sardonically) christened the new nightclubs. But the boom in boutique gym openings means rising competition, leaving athletic studios working hard to distinguish themselves from the growing crowd. Not one to shy away from a faceoff, Montreal’s REBL Club — a boxing studio in the city’s Griffintown neighbourhood — set out to refresh its five-year-old lobby for another round.

1

The Brief

To deliver the desired hit of personality, the owners turned to local studio By Lemoignan. “What clients like about what I do is that it’s always driven by an experience that’s a bit quirky,” says Tony Lemoignan, the studio’s founder. “You don’t know what I’m going to do next.” Lemoignan was charged with introducing a dedicated café counter as part of a lobby revamp that would encourage gathering and socialization — all while reflecting his firm’s trademark idiosyncrasy.

2

The Setting

The 146-year-old red-brick structure that REBL sits at the base of is, like many Griffintown buildings, a converted industrial warehouse — in this case, a historic jute mill. The boxing club’s high ceilings already attested to that ancestry, but Lemoignan wanted to work the history into the lobby design more directly, cultivating a rugged aesthetic with elements like spruce plywood lockers.

3

The Design

When Lemoignan first pitched a red and blue palette, REBL Club balked. The two hues are so closely tied to boxing — even turning up on Rock ’Em Sock ’Em Robots toy fighters — that the line between reference and cliché is thin. But then the firm brought in samples of its selected tiles, in a mix of dark and pale blue tones, and demonstrated how they would contrast with the rich burgundy of its planned shelving. The client was convinced. On the other hand, Lemoignan opted against another popular boxing gym convention. “I think a big reception desk with people behind it just chilling is a bit weird,” he says. By minimizing the reception area, he encourages less distinction between employees and clients, instead allowing the new café counter to anchor a space where everyone can mingle.

4

The Details

True to By Lemoignan’s reputation, the lobby is rich with unexpected details. A slender punching bag hangs from the ceiling in a corner, wrapped in scrunched-up reflective vinyl that gives it a welcome scrappiness. Wall-mounted hexagonal light fixtures (again, in bold burgundy) leave a trail of knotted cables for another dose of controlled chaos. Meanwhile, the massive light panel behind the downsized reception desk makes for a surreal focal point. At nighttime, it’s left on to bathe the space in blue or white light, while the geometric wall fixtures cast strange shadows.

5

The Scene

Behind the café counter, a sliding takeout window offers passersby a way to order coffee directly from outside — for service, they ring a classic boxing bell affixed to the building’s brick facade. That finishing touch serves as a perfect summary of REBL’s lobby revamp, which skilfully combines nods to boxing tradition with fun moments of eccentricity, all in service of drawing people in and encouraging them to linger.