Youth Centres

There are three groups in society who have a stake in youth club provision

  • Young people
  • Parents and carers
  • Funders

If we fail to incorporate any one of these groups' requirements we risk undermining the project, or worse ensuring it doesn't even start.

The club shown is designed to share facilities with other groups. It is split into three self contained parts that can be used independently of each other -

  1. Income generation, A bar and function room for hire by the community for weddings and birthdays. Young people can see how the income is generated to run their youth club.
  2. Training facility, The café and training facility on the ground floor is run by young people providing food and drink for other users in the park, football teams, families and toddler groups.
  3. Youth Club, you don't have to enter the building to use the facilities. The idea is to encourage contact between responsible adults and the hard to reach young people, who prefer public space.


Is this a bin store or a youth club? This design shows how little we value youth clubs and their occupants.




The Building



The building design must evolve from the activities within which in turn are driven by the outcomes required. Too often club design is led by pre-conceived ideas such as 'we must have table tennis and pool'.

Design should be the interaction of our desired outcomes, consultation with young people and the site or building and its limitations.

Some simple ideas to incorporate into the building design

  • Provide transitional areas between the inside and outside
  • Visual connection with society by glazing areas of the building to encourage a connection between young people and their communities
  • A legible construction which displays the structure so young people can see how the building works
  • Institutional finishes that are easy to clean become the dominant feature. Why on earth is being easy to clean the most important aspect for an interior: Would adults go to a restaurant because it was easy to clean!
  • Don't hide away the buildings eco credentials but display them so they provide a narrative i.e. rainwater being recycled from large central container