Zynk was appointed to design a new kind of jiu-jitsu club in Abu Dhabi, created in honour of Master Bitta. The brief was a modern, high-quality destination with broad appeal: a dojo where members train with discipline and focus, and a clubhouse where they recover, connect and choose to stay. That second half matters commercially. A club that only works on the mat competes on price, while one that holds its members off the mat builds long-term loyalty.

The club is arranged over two floors. The ground floor carries the arrival, with reception, a backlit retail wall, the lounge and café and two dojos. Below, changing rooms and a recovery suite with sauna and cold plunge complete the member journey.

The design takes its identity from the light of Abu Dhabi. In reception, dark tiled walls and a stone-faced counter set off a glowing Bitta roundel beneath a large circular pendant. The same circular form scales up over the main dojo, where a run of lightboxes gives the mats bright, even light for training. The second dojo is more intimate, with a warm orange coffer framed in light against a dark ceiling.

Away from the mats, the mood shifts deliberately. The lounge is wrapped in warm terracotta, with timber joinery and red upholstered banquettes arranged around a single tree, so members have a reason to stay after class. Recovery is calmer still: a timber sauna, stone surfaces and soft, low lighting designed for restoration. Lighting is set for each part of the club, bright and controlled for training, warm in the community spaces and soft in recovery.

Zynk delivered strategy and space planning, concept design, design development and the technical design package, working alongside the client team and the local delivery team in Abu Dhabi.