A stacking of
solids & voids
Youth centers have an important role in urban areas. They give the communities around them a place to have social, academic, and sporting activities. At its most successful cases, the youth center becomes an integral part of the community’s everyday life. However, the current typology of a youth center in Jakarta is a site filled with multiple, single function buildings spread across the site. This type of design reduces the interaction between different functions, due to the dead spaces between them. It also reduces the site green area due to the large building footprint.
The site for the youth center redesign is located in Jl. Yos Sudarso, the main road that connects Tanjung Priok Port to the rest of Jakarta. The land use in Tanjung Priok is mainly commercial and industrial, making the region as a whole a high level of density. Because of the high density, there is a clear lack of open public spaces in this region. Another problem that comes from the density and land use is the high air pollution. North Jakarta has the worst air quality of any region in Indonesia.
The original youth centers in Jakarta were built in the late 1960’s. The one in North Jakarta is now dwarfed by the surrounding office buildings and warehouses. Due to its single function buildings and inefficient site planning, the youth center doesn’t answer the problems that North Jakarta faces. These conditions brought up the idea of how architecture can increase the open green areas, and integrate multiple functions into a single cohesive building.
To solve the complex problems of this project, the main strategy was to stack all the functions of the youth center on top of each other. In order to do this, first the programming of the previous youth center had to be studied. After deciding the hierarchy and volume of these programs, they where stacked on top of each other.
The result of the initial massing was extremely bulky and dense, something the design had to avoid. To create porosity in the building, some of the programs, such as lobby, gallery and cafeteria were stacked as a negative volume, or void space. To provide shading from rain and direct sunlight, a porous skin was added as the main building envelope.
Due to the minimal footprint, the youth center as a whole feel more like an open park rather than a building complex. The open site plan allows it to be an intermediary space between the residential and commercial areas surrounding the site. A series of connecting escalators and stair brings people up from the ground and into the various spaces in the building.
With our cities becoming denser, architects must look for ways to utilize each site to its potential. By stacking up different functions, we can create a more dynamic, green, and open city.
