Young Hope: This youth centre in a blighted district of Salzburg exemplifies the power of architecture to transform - Brief Article

Architectural Review, The, Dec, 2001

We all think of Austria as a prosperous country, and Salzburg one of the richest cities in it. But according to Thomas Forsthuber, the authorities have been using the district of Liefering-Sud as a 'disposal site' for the city's social problems since the I 930s. Immigrants, refugees, and the unemployed are decanted there; 13.7 per cent of the population is on welfare as opposed to the average four per cent. A third of the population is less than 19 years old. Forsthuber wanted to make a building that would act as a centre for kids and youth', in an area where local recreational facilities are politically orientated, and resources offered by schools are often eschewed. At the same time, small flats force children and adolescents on to the streets.

Forsthuber wanted to make his centre almost as complex as possible, partly to contrast with the dreary surroundings and partly to offer a multitude of places with which users can identify. It has three zones: for childhood, puberty and adolescence, in each of which the scale of the spaces is adjusted to the body size of the users, but there is a complex interplay of space and function so that all users are at least given the opportunity to meet each other casually, or more formally in the Gemeinschaftsraum. Or of escaping to much more private, almost cave-like spaces.

Forsthuber says that the building is made with 'dancing rooms, rhythm, motion patterns, spatial pulse, a maelstrom of rooms, a network of rooms, layers of rooms'. The plan bends and twists almost manically (perhaps the reason why the jury decided to commend the scheme rather than awarding it a prize). But the writhings in both plan and section have a point. Forsthuber wanted his building to draw attention to itself, even to be flash to attract attention from its potential users. Its poured concrete structure is largely clad in stainless steel, and at night the shining metal is floodlit, partly by the children themselves with a special projector. The mesh of the net round the rooftop ball games court glitters enticingly as a new landmark.

So far, the place seems to be working: if so, it will have done about as much as architecture can do to alleviate a sad social scene, and improve the life of young previously sunk in anomie.