Opened in 2013, this bouldering-specific facility located on the Upper East Side of New York City packs a lot into a small space. This climbing gym features over 2000 square feet of climbing walls, using ARC designs for curved features throughout. It is impressive how easily you can get your fix for climbing met in the middle of the largest metropolitan area in the US. The unique dimensions of the space required proper planning ahead of time to maximize the floor plan for climbing square footage, fall zones, customer ease of approach and one seriously steep cave design feature.
Steep Rock Bouldering: The entrance of Steep Rock gives customers a uniform and cohesive feel for the facility through out, and provides quick access to check-in, nutrition options and seating to change shoes.
Steep Rock Bouldering: The front desk is positioned right next to a large mural that illustrates the melding of two opposite worlds: city and outdoors.
Steep Rock Bouldering: A view of the front entrance looking out towards the street. The small merchandise area provides supplementarity profit while not being obtrusive to customers wanting to head straight to climbing.
Steep Rock Bouldering: When you have limited area to work with, you can still have plenty of space to show off your own branded gear for sale. SRB is a perfect example of a gym that approaches this with constant freshness.
Steep Rock Bouldering: A street view of the entrance, showing full width of the facility and giving people an idea of whats in-store for them inside, despite the metropolitan facade.
Steep Rock Bouldering: There was a heavy focus on climber engagement due to the space being small. Everything from the walls, to the seating areas, and floor layout were to get people not only climbing but also socializing.
Steep Rock Bouldering: With not a ton of room for deep overhanging walls due to the thin nature of the floor plan, this super-steep cave was designed in the rear of the facility to give an extra challenge to those who were fit for it.
Steep Rock Bouldering: The facility has a surprising amount of light inside, which even during the day is supplemented by strategically placed ceiling lamps to create consistent lighting front to back.
Steep Rock Bouldering: This view from about mid-way through the facility looking forward, shows not only how wavy and distinct the ARC walls are but also that there is plenty of room despite the traditionally small space.
Steep Rock Bouldering: This view from mid-facility looking rearward, shows how much more wall space really exists in the deep floor-plan, including the rear section with steeper features.
Steep Rock Bouldering: A small space like this in Manhattan, is plenty tall enough for challenging bouldering wall heights.
Steep Rock Bouldering: This wider angle shows how much more interesting you can make a climbing wall with ARC designs from Vertical Solutions. You can see the base of the wall closely following the floor-plan, while the top is varied a ton to create interesting and complex routes for climbers of all levels.
Steep Rock Bouldering: An up-close picture of how Vertical Solutions likes to tackle wall transitions between features. This hardwood treatment adds extra aesthetics and visual definition to the climbing wall design without being overstated.
Steep Rock Bouldering: You can see how long and thin the layout is in this picture, which created an interesting challenge for climbing wall designers to create unique and challenging features without getting carried away with overhung angles.
Steep Rock Bouldering: The flooring system throughout the facility is supplied by Habit Flooring systems, which can be ordered in a number of custom colors including this green seen here.
Steep Rock Bouldering: While unassuming from this picture, this ARC wall cave is not to be taken lightly, coming in at over 45 degrees throughout and seamlessly transitioning to the adjoining wall.
Steep Rock Bouldering: The curvy ARC walls designed for SRB still yield plenty of ability to add volumes and large holds for route complexity.
Steep Rock Bouldering: Another view of the challenging climbing cave in the rear of the facility which adjoins the main climbing wall that runs the length of the building.
Steep Rock Bouldering: Every inch of this awesome facility was well thought-out, including the introduction of these useful benches that serve as a resting space as well as storage for client's belongings while they are on the wall.
Steep Rock Bouldering: From top to bottom, Vertical Solutions worked with the owner of SRB to maximize wall space around existing building structure and supporting elements, to maintain safe fall zones throughout.
Steep Rock Bouldering: Hard to believe you are in the middle of Upper East Side Manhattan when you look out towards the street. Steep Rock Bouldering is where your love of outdoor recreation can get temporarily addressed in an urban jungle.
