The Youth and Women's Leadership Centre will be the core of the Santa Cruz district. The proposal fundamentally aims at defining a new centrality, which should provide new opportunities for the community’s life and spark social and economic regeneration in the area. It also understands the site’s condition as an urban block, and therefore has been originated as a master plan. As a result, it was fundamental to present the Youth and Women's Leadership Centre (YWLC) not only as a building occupying part of the site, but as a combination of open and enclosed spaces defining the whole block. From this perspective, the proposal defines new urban frontages, enhances the urban legibility of the area and promotes a series of spaces dedicated to the practice of sport and other social activities.

The main building is located along the main vehicular access to the site. The scheme establishes a visual dialogue with the two main nodes, in Kevin Lynch’s definition, on the immediate surroundings, by the creation of a landmark and the central public space, which runs perpendicular to the main building across the block.

In the centre of the site we celebrate sport. We envisage a dynamic and vibrant space gravitating around its main element: the official football pitch. The sport as the centre of this diverse and dynamic proposal carries the message the sponsors put forward, as to believe in the power of sport to unleash one’s potential and strength, to encourage life changing behaviours, citizenship and empowerment.

The main building can be read as a roof that protects the spaces and activities underneath, and is intended to promote a fluid and interconnected experience for the users, presenting also sustainable solutions, such as the reuse of containers and other environmental strategies.

URBAN ANALYSIS AND DEFINITION OF THE PROPOSAL

LEGIBILITY AND CONNECTIVITY
The YWLC sits as a new node in the immediate surroundings and as a new core for the district. This condition was the starting point for the scheme, and led us to the creation of a vertical landmark on the site’s main road, and a central axis corridor across the block. The horizontality of the area is broken by the creation of this new landmark, which demarks the site’s new central role, contributes to the creation of a new image for the place and offers the district a new element of legibility and orientation. The central corridor would also provide pedestrians with a direct way through the site and would become the central public space in the scheme.
The main pedestrian route across the site in the south-north direction, generated or at least reinforced by the bus stop, has been incorporated into the scheme. As a consequence, a new entrance square has been designed on the site’s corner opposite the bus stop. This square is defined by the vertical element, housing the day-care facility on the ground floor, and a library on its other edge. This public space allows more visibility to the vertical landmark, receives the pedestrians and direct them to the centre of the site. The proposed uses are intended to help activate the open space and take advantage of the influx of people generated by the public transport system.

URBAN BLOCK
The opportunity for a master plan for the whole site could not be missed. It should define new urban frontages, establish a clear dialogue with the immediate surroundings and engage with the existing urban patterns, routes and proportions. This standpoint allowed for a carefully considered insertion of this new development within the consolidated urban fabric, aiming at facilitating citizens’ engagement with this new intervention, the development of a sense of identity and pride for their community.

The main building was placed along the eastern site boundary, facing the canal, and at a perpendicular angle to the main public space. The main entrance sits along this axis and in direct relationship with the central corridor and the vehicular access to the site. Its vertical walls demarcate the hierarchical importance of this space in the scheme, reinforce the axis and contribute to enhance its urban legibility.

A new frontage has also been created on the south side of the site, which is defined by the already mentioned entrance square, the position of the library, a pergola and the business units. On the southwest frontage, another entry square has been designed to welcome pedestrians coming from this direction. It is defined by the business units and the community hall and leads pedestrians into the middle of the site, through the urban allotments/flower beds proposed on the community square. The northwest frontage is characterized by the main public space/corridor through the site and by the water tower. This element is a counterpoint to the vertical elements on the opposite side of the site, such as the vertical building and the entrance block. The northern zone is defined by the training football pitch and a play area. The play zone is intended to enhance the existing playground along the canal and to also bring these activities into the site, increasing the benefit of diverse activities on the site for the community use.

ZONES AND USES
The site was zoned at the same time the urban frontages were being defined. The central public space divides it in two main areas: the community zone, towards the south; and the sport and play to the north.
This division of activities and uses is reflected both in the indoor and outdoor spaces. The main building is comprised of the main reception/ lobby area, which contains a café and access to the rest of the uses within it. It welcomes the visitors, the community and the athletes in a bright and permeable space. It leads to the main public space and official football pitch ahead, to the changing rooms, fitness room, bathrooms, equipment room and storage to the northeast (as part of the sport and play zone); and to the classrooms and terrace area in the southwest wing. It also connects to the day-care facility and administrative offices in the vertical building (part of the community zone).

The classrooms are proposed as a flexible open space that can be divided up into a series of smaller spaces by the use of pivoting panels. These elements are attached to the columns, every 5 meters, and can pivot to attend the teacher and student needs.

The sport zone also encompasses the training pitch and the play zone.

The community zone is further complemented by the library, entrance squares, the pergola, the business units, the community hall, the water tower (access to clear water), and the allotments/flower beds within the community plaza. This square provides space for outdoor community gatherings, is directly linked to the community hall and can host different sorts of presentations, meetings and other events. To support that, a stage was placed along the northwest elevation of the library.

The pergola could be inhabited by business units, in the form of altered containers, and also hold a market.
These uses can be adapted according to a consultation process and other community needs. The master plan is flexible enough to accommodate it.

THE ELEMENTS OF THE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
From the analysis of the specificities of site, some important elements generated our interest, such as lightness of the goalposts and the solidity of the bus stop. The concept for the main building developed, thus, both from our understanding of the urban context and from the appropriation of these elements. This building can be described as a combination of suspended planes, which helped generating a light and permeable building. Mainly, “I” “L” and “U” shapes were used as typological developments of a geometrical analysis of the goalpost structure. They protect the uses and spaces created underneath. For the activities that needed to happen in enclosed rooms, such as the changing rooms, the equipment room and the storage, solid refurbished containers were used. They also reference the volumetry of the bus stop.

The L shapes are also important features of the library and the community hall. The U shape is present in the pergolas, and also demarks the position of other containers which could be used for newborn businesses.

MATERIALITY
The structure of the main building is made of concrete slabs supported by steel columns. The floor is made of cement; and the shadings, pergolas and doorframes of corten steel. There are glazed doors and windows on the reception block, classroom block and vertical building. This building has got a concrete frame structure and rendered walls. The central public space and the terrace are timber decks. The other outside spaces use Portuguese stone and cobble stone. The water tower is made of concrete and glass. A discussion with the community is needed to define the materiality of the other buildings on the site, but should be aligned with the solutions proposed for the main construction.

Location