Supporting Zig Zag’s work with young people

At Windsor Community Centre in Brisbane, Zig Zag Youth Support Services provides housing and sexual violence support for young women, trans and gender diverse young people. Its premises are a base for work that responds to sexual violence and youth homelessness, as well as a place within the wider community.

Architects Without Frontiers has connected Zig Zag with AWF Network Partner Studio.SC to support an upgrade of its existing service centre. Working within a very tight budget, Studio.SC has developed plans to reconfigure the office so it can accommodate case management and administrative staff while providing additional consultation space.

Making more of an existing place

The project focuses on how the available space can better support the organisation’s work. A service centre needs to accommodate the people delivering support as well as those coming to use it. In a constrained building and budget, the relationship between these functions becomes an important design consideration.

Studio.SC’s proposal addresses that practical brief through a reconfiguration of the existing office. The additional consultation space is intended to sit alongside the accommodation required for case management and administration, giving each part of the service a place within the plan.

It is a focused intervention in an existing facility. The contribution of design lies in looking closely at the space already available and finding a more useful arrangement for the activities it needs to accommodate.

Supporting the work of a community service

Windsor Community Centre is both a resource for community development and engagement and a hub for Zig Zag’s services. The proposed upgrade supports that established role by responding to the working needs of the organisation within its current setting.

For AWF, the project is an example of how professional expertise can assist a community organisation with a specific and practical challenge. A modest brief can still benefit from careful design thinking, particularly where funding is limited and each space needs to work hard.

We thank Studio.SC for contributing its expertise to help Zig Zag develop these plans, supporting the organisation as it continues its work with young people in Brisbane.