Barton turned to Aero Studios, the design firm of William Sofield and Thomas O'Brien, to make a gym with downtown energy and uptown grace. It was, he recalls, their proposal to use leather pads in the lobby that convinced him they were the right men for the job. According to the designers, the challenge was "to do a luxurious Upper East Side gym that didn't feel prissy." Their $2.5 million renovation employs a sophisticated palette of materials and a slew of special furniture and decorative objects to make this happen.