Intercultural Building Project (Zurich ZH)

CODE: CH-SCI W11.3

Description

The youth center “Dynamo” is a public place in Zurich that offers possibilities for young people to realize their own projects. Dynamo offers public work areas, meeting rooms and stages for concerts. It is a place of encounter and a great place for art interested people to network and develop new projects and ideas.
As every summer, the youth center will support local, Zurich based social projects by assisting them in the realization of their ideas.

This year, the work will be carried out at two locations: At the youth center "Dynamo", the focus will be on area visualization, which is expected to involve painting on the ground and putting up signs to clearly indicate that this is the "Dynamo" youth center. Furthermore, a project will be carried out at the cultural place "Parkplatz" in Zurich. Here, either something existing will be restored or something new will be built, so manual labor will be involved. You will be informed about the specific summer 2026 projects at the camp. We always try to use leftover materials from our workshops or upcycle old things.

Type of Work

We will be working with various techniques such as woodworking, metalworking, and in general with up-and recycling. If you already have a specific know-how in one of these techniques, it would be great! Or if you have other ideas or skills to contribute to the project in whatever way – please let the volunteer camp hosting partner know.

Note that the work may be less structured than you are used to, as the aim is for volunteers to contribute their own creativity and initiative. It is a lot about trying out new methods.

Please be aware that you will not work with local volunteers but always within the SCI volunteer group.

Study Theme

The youth center “Dynamo” and the concrete projects of summer 2026 will be presented to the volunteers at the beginning of the week. You will learn about different techniques (wood– and metalworking) and about common space and ways to use it.

Accommodation

The youth center "Dynamo" provides mattresses, blankets, pillows and covers for all volunteers; a washing machine is available; showers and bed rooms for volunteers are available and can be split by genders, 1x toilet in the residential, more toilets in the main building and working areas; internet available.

It is planned to have vegetarian and vegan diet. The volunteers will collectively coordinate the shopping and meal preparation for each morning and each night (groceries will be paid for). Lunch is offered at the canteen of the youth center “Dynamo” except on the week-end and on Monday (arrival day) – on those days, the group cooks lunch themselves. We recommend you to limit your meat consumption, so as to contribute to the camp’s principle of sustainability.

Language: Camp language will be English. Work instructions in basic English will be provided. The local language is Swiss German.

Requirements

Willingness to learn about different techniques and bring a concrete project to life in Zurich.

You should be ready to be offline during the workshops, working sessions and group leisure time activities. The volunteer camp is about intercultural exchange - for the following reason, the mobile phone should not always be present so that the volunteers can exchange ideas with each other and learn about the content.

Additional information

Why did SCI Switzerland choose to support this volunteer camp? SCI Switzerland believes that in the current state of pollution and production of waste material, it is necessary to reduce consumption and try to prevent waste from being created: reuse, reduce and recycle.

Please note that Zurich is rather expensive compared to other places in Switzerland.