Darwen Youth Centre

Darwen Youth Centre is located in the heart of the town, facing the historic Carnegie-funded Library Theatre and a short distance from the Market Square. The existing single-storey structure occupies the level part of a steeply sloping site, with several mature trees screening the building from Knott Street to the west. The project brief was to enlarge the building to broaden youth provision, as well as make it more prominent and inviting to young people of the town.

Retaining the existing structure, our design extends the footprint with two new-build stair and lift towers to the north and south. These serve a new upper floor which hovers in the tree canopy. Designed as a cross-laminated timber structure, the volume is articulated as a series of pitched-roofs which define the building’s image and reduce its apparent scale when viewed from the streets further up the slope. Pre-weathered standing-seam copper cladding sits comfortably with the trees and echoes the copper dome of the Library Theatre.

Internally, the ground floor is to be fully refurbished to provide a flexible activity space, gym and café. A central double-height space links to the new upper floor, which contains a recording studio, DJ skills room, creative maker workshop and a number of multi-purpose rooms. To the north a new kick-pitch will be provided, and new areas of soft landscaping around the site enhance biodiversity and give young people the opportunity to grow plants and vegetables.