Iām in a YA Library-services focused class now (basically itās a lot less āTeens like vampires!ā and a lot more āJesus fucking christ how did we get to the point where it is so socially ingrained in us to treat teenagers like shitā) and weāre on this module on teen space design in libraries and itās like āWell, by including teenagers in the design process, we found that when it comes to spatial design, teenagers like lots of natural light, green and sustainable building praxis, clean, casual, and comfortable atmospheres,Ā interesting and appealing colors, and also absolutely bullshit furniture that even they have no idea how to sit on.ā
So itās likeā¦
āTell meā¦ what do The Youthsā¢ want?āĀ
āWe still donāt know, but they seem to respond well to victorian fainting couches remodeled to look like they came out of that one time in the early 2000ā²s where our idea of futuristic was making everything look like it was made out of jell-o.āĀ
Like in this one library, they introduced this piece of furniture that was referred to asĀ āthe diskā orĀ āThe round thingā and it was just this kind ofā¦ solid, padded squat cylinder, not a table because it was padded, too big and connected to the floor to be an ottoman, and not a couch because it wasā¦ a cylinder. And like, at first the teens didnāt use it because they thought it was reserved as like, a cushy stage for like, storytimes or something, but as soon as they realized they could sit or lay down on it and it was for them, you would have friend groups of teens literally piling on each other on it. Like thatās honestly the cutest shit.
