This new club is automated, staffless, climate neutral and only offers self-powered equipment

Twenty Four, a new automated gym and sports facility, where all equipment is self-powered, has opened in Ludwigsburg, Germany. The new addition is part of Urban Harbor, a 200,000sq m industrial area that is being transformed by Max Maier Urban Development to become Europe’s first climate-neutral urban district.

The Twenty Four concept was conceived by founder and CEO Philipp Maier, who opened the Urban Health Club (UHC), UHC Spa and UHC The Outdoor Gym – a combined £2.8m fitness and wellness development – on the site in 2021, marking the first stage of the Urban Harbor project.

“At the heart of Twenty Four is a focus on sustainability, energy efficiency and being carbon neutral,” said Maier. “The concept is completely new – futuristic – something that has not been seen before.”

Formerly an industrial hall, Twenty Four offers a 24-hour gym – which includes solar panels and energy storage on the roof making it climate neutral – and a multi-functional sports area. The gym – 750 square metres indoors and 250 square metres outdoors – is fitted out with fitness, performance, strength and weightlifting equipment. Twenty Four is also an official showroom partner for Life Fitness and its Hammer Strength brand.

Twenty Four’s sports club is a 500sq m multifunctional ball sports area, where users can book badminton, touch tennis, basketball, soccer and boxing. In keeping with its carbon-neutral ethos, the facility was produced using sustainable materials, including recycled flooring, while the design is futuristic with lightning bolt graphics and black and white grids.

The health club is open to members (€19.99 per month for a 24-month membership, €29.99 per month for twelve-months) and non-members, with members receiving offers for discounted use. All bookings are made online through Twenty Four’s proprietary booking tool.

A third area is dedicated to Urban Therapy, a physiotherapy and wellness practice that provides treatments and therapy programmes, such as detox and wellbeing sessions. This offering is connected to Urban Health Club, as the building is located adjacent to UHC The Outdoor Gym.

“Urban Harbor district, the first productive and climate-neutral urban quarter in Europe, is to be created in Ludwigsburg Weststadt by 2030,” said Maier. “By continuing to use the existing buildings, up to 75 per cent of CO2 could be saved. To achieve this ambitious goal, the energy, generated by photovoltaic systems will optimise the ecosystem’s process, which can only be done through collaboration and cloud networking. These interconnected, intelligent systems allow air and energy flows to be precisely targeted and therefore highly efficient.”

When Urban Health Club launched in 2021, HCM exclusively interviewed Maier and learned more about his vision for Urban Harbor.

“We believe true innovation does not live through the products themselves, but through the user or customer, so our focus in our Urban Health Club location at Urban Harbor is on people,” he said at the time.

“We create experiences. Awaken emotions. Connect personalities. Think globally – Urban Harbor is a place where culture and classicism, tradition and future, sports and lifestyle come together. It’s a place where collaboration is put into practice, powered by digital processes and services.”