A youth centre in Longbridge, Birmingham, developed with the young people who would use it. The project takes its origin from the site’s manufacturing history: a former car plant and the birthplace of the Austin Mini.
/
Reference
01
The brief came from its users and its place.
The project was developed through a youth client group aged 13 to 17. Their reference was local and direct: Longbridge’s industrial past, its car plant and the Austin Mini. The factory offered a clear parallel with the centre’s purpose: a place where young people could make, learn, perform and produce. The idea was not applied to the building after the event. It came from the brief itself.
/
System
02
The factory becomes section, facade and material logic.
The sawtooth roof translates the industrial factory silhouette into the building’s section, creating varied internal volumes for sport, performance, media and social use. The facade develops a second layer of reference. An aerial image of Mini cars at Longbridge is abstracted into a field of acrylic blocks set into concrete. By day, the openings bring patterned light into the building. By night, they return the pattern to the street. Inside, concrete floors, plywood linings and exposed services give the centre a robust, direct character suited to intensive use.
/
Resolution
03
A youth centre made from the history around it.
Factory.MyPlace turns Longbridge’s manufacturing history into a usable public building. Roof, facade, materials and identity all return to the same origin: the factory as a place of production. The result is not nostalgic. It gives young people a building that recognises where they are, what the place has made before, and what they can make next.
Project designed by Steven Chilton as project director at Marks Barfield Architects.
Latest Projects.
A curated selection of projects that reflect our commitment to simplicity and purposeful design.
The work
The work
