Teenage Wework

Teenage WeWork

Moving into sixth form is one of the biggest psychological steps in a young person's school life. Schools want their sixth formers to mature – to take on more responsibility and start working the way they will at university. The sixth form centre carries a lot of that weight. For years it's the place only the seniors can go, and crossing its threshold is a rite of passage. Too often, though, the space is a tired collection of old sofas, chairs and tables that does little to mark the moment. At Alleyn's Hampstead, Cognita's new school on Rosslyn Hill, the school worked with us from scratch to design for what sixth formers actually need: somewhere to relax, and equally somewhere to study, collaborate and work. The idea was their own mini WeWork.

The centre is made up of distinct settings. An acoustically separated Harkness room seats ten to twelve for seminars and discussion, and an open workspace supports semi-social, independent study. At the heart of the lounge is a large semicircular sunken sofa, drawn from the Italian conversation pits of the 1970s. It gives the room a social centre – a place for talks, events and screenings where the year group comes together. The palette is calm and understated, and every wall has pinboard so sixth formers can put up their artwork, posters, bands and whatever else says who they are. That ownership is deliberate. When sixth formers walk in and can tell the space was designed for them to enjoy, they feel it belongs to them. That sense of belonging and agency matters most at the point of stepping up into sixth form.