(), also known as the , is a

youth center A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example table football, association football (US soccer, UK football), basketball, table tennis, vid ...

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, Switzerland. The space hosts workshops, concerts, and plays. It also includes a restaurant and club.

History

The Drahtschmidli opened as a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...

on the

Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluenc ...

in 1772. When he inherited it, Wilhelm Reiser turned the spa into a brewery. After a series of accidents and mishaps which caused the brewery to pass from owner to owner, the explosions during the construction of the

Letten Tunnel The Letten Tunnel (german: Lettentunnel) is a disused railway tunnel in the Swiss city of Zürich. It is situated on the old route of the Lake Zürich right bank railway (''Rechtsufrige Zürichseebahn'') from Zurich Hbf station to Rapperswil st ...

led to cloudy beer and the city of Zurich took over the factory in 1906 (the customer list was purchased by the nearby

Hürlimann Brewery Hürlimann Brewery is a former brewery in Zürich, Switzerland, now owned by the Rheinfelden, Aargau based brewery Feldschlösschen, which is owned by Carlsberg. Hurlimann was founded in 1836 by Albert Hürlimann, and its management was in the s ...

). In the 1930s, the idea of a

youth hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared ba ...

led to the creation of Zürich's Department of Vacation and Freetime (german: Vereinigung Ferien und Freizeit, link=no). They wanted to create a space with club rooms, craft rooms, workshops, a large multi-purpose room with a stage, and office space for the VFF. Because of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the money could not be allocated until the late 1950s. To raise money to build the necessary accommodations, the Zurich Youth House (german: Zurcher Jugendhaus, link=no) raised 700,000 francs through three summer festivals. They announced they would use the money to build a new facility. Construction did not occur, and the city chose to renovate the current space instead, but had to deal with a group of 60 adolescents who kept renting out the spaces. The space closed down soon after, citing drug problems.

Dynamo

By the 1980s, the youths of Zürich were upset about not having their own youth center. When the

Zürich Opera House The Zürich Opera House (german: Opernhaus Zürich, links=no) is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zürich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. ...

received a grant of for renovation, the youths took to the streets. The riots led to the creation of the Autonomous Youth Center in

Lindenhof The Lindenhof, in the old town of Zürich, Switzerland, is the historical site of the Roman castle, and the later Carolingian Kaiserpfalz. It is situated on Lindenhof hill, on the left side of the Limmat at the Schipfe. In 1747, a second-century ...

(german: Autonomes Jugendzentrum Lindenhofbunker, link=no) and the

Rote Fabrik Rote Fabrik (''Red Factory'') is a former factory in the Wollishofen neighbourhood of Zürich, Switzerland. It is now used as a music venue and cultural centre. It is so named because the buildings are made of red brick, but also because left- ...

. The Autonomes Jugendzentrum closed quickly, and was promptly demolished, again leaving the youth of Zürich with no center. In 1982, the city budgeted 15 million francs to extend the Drahtschmidlis, renaming it the Dynamo. The Dynamo opened in May 1988 with the goal of "providing youths with a free space to develop themselves and assume responsibility". At first the Dynamo only offered boarding house services, hosted events, and taught courses, but quickly expanded to include a

metalworking Metalworking is the process of shaping and reshaping metals to create useful objects, parts, assemblies, and large scale structures. As a term it covers a wide and diverse range of processes, skills, and tools for producing objects on every scale ...

shop,

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

workshop,

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

, sound laboratory, and restaurant. During this time, the Dynamo also held many classes taught by the F+F School for Art and Media Design Zurich. Still the number of visitors continued to grow, and in 1996 about 100,000 adolescents visited the Dynamo. , The Dynamo had 26 employees, and 26 interns, and was undergoing a revamp of their metalworking shop. The government provides 2.1 million francs each year. In 2017, the rivalry between

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

and

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

led to several Grasshopper Club fans being beaten with fists and iron bars in the Dynamo.

References

External links

* {{Authority control History of Zürich Youth in Switzerland 1980 in Switzerland Swiss youth culture Politics of Switzerland Music venues in Switzerland