(Y)CC – A Civic Tool

The project

The city needed a fourth youth centre, this time new-built on a former football pitch, on a tight budget. The design made space itself the main resource for learning, personal growth and civic life.

Only the core rooms, in solid timber boxes, are heated in winter. The industrial polycarbonate shell around them adds room for sport and events, and in warmer months garage doors open the boxes fully. With no plaster, paint or screed, the centre gained about three times the space for roughly the same budget.