Award-winning architects Herzog and de Meuron are designing a new building that will be created on the south side of the existing Tate Modern gallery.
Calling all teenagers: if you could design your perfect space to hang out in at Tate Modern, what would you put in it? What would it look like?
In Channel 4’s Skins, the teenagers hang out mostly in a park in Bristol. Outside of tellyland, teens do similar things – in Manchester they congregate around Urbis, the trendy modern gallery dedicated to cities and their teeming street life. In London, it’s Camden’s canalside market, or the skate park in the concrete bunker below Royal Festival Hall, or Topshop Oxford Circus’s ground floor café, which benefits from having a fashion demonstration space and giant screens showing catwalk footage and blaring pop.
Wolverhampton’s Pop Art Gallery
There aren’t that many dedicated leisure spaces for teens, although they flock to places that get the mix of style and activities right. Teens just like to gather wherever their friends are, and where there are cool things to do, away from adults and certainly away from younger kids. Mobiles and the internet have changed teenage life immeasurably, promoting a passion for communication that’s a world away from the archetypal teenager of the 1990s. All these habits and activities should influence the design of a teen space at Tate Modern.
Such a space should offer its users a distinctive environment, and be flexible enough to host a range of activities – painting projects, informal gigs, performances and discussions with artists could all take place there.
Generally, you’d expect to find such a place stocked with books, headphones to listen to music and podcasts, screens showing film content created specially for this area, and computers to browse online art archives. This might make for a space that’s like a cross between a café lounge, a library and a music store. If you look at the popularity of outlets like the Apple Store, teens love good design.
One British gallery has already taken a very teen-centric approach to one of its areas. At Wolverhampton Art Gallery, the idea behind the Pop Art gallery, designed by Airside and mae architects, is to create somewhere that teens like to hang out, surrounded by fashionable artwork. There, vibrant pop art prints hang in a plain white gallery with a huge white circular sofa in the centre, encouraging groups of teens to gather. Films are projected onto the walls, featuring an actor dressed as Andy Warhol who explains who all the people in the paintings are. White iMacs provide further chances to explore and enjoy this zingy art movement and its connections to music, celebrities and American culture.
Compared to the rest of the new Tate, Tate’s teen space could be a bit more eccentric in its décor. A few choice items of furniture could be bold and unconventional, enticing teens to enjoy design that they don’t get to see in everyday life, like Arne Jacobsen’s 1958 classic Egg chair, or any contemporary design by the Campana Brothers, whose ideas are based on the favelas in their native Brazil. This multipurpose swivel seat by Swedish designer Fredrik Mattson has definite teen appeal.
A glance at Flickr shows that American libraries seem to have got the design of teen spaces carefully perfected. These areas for teen books seem to host all sorts of other activities: Jacksonville Public Library in Florida is a definite social hub. Its Myspace is pretty active, but so is the space itself, with large sculptural seating areas in bold colours and lots of changing collages and display areas.
In Rem Koolhaas’s breathtaking Seattle Public Library building the teens aren’t overlooked, getting a dedicated floor with a vibrant red interior in which to lounge about (bold primary reds, yellows and lime green interiors seem to be a regular theme in teen-land).
Minneapolis Central Library – photograph by Flickr user webchicken. Licensed under Creative Commons
Believe it or not, the best teen hang-out looks to be in Minneapolis. Designed by teens for teens, the Central Library’s teen area is furnished with bean bags, vending machines and very cool portable book trolleys with curving metal frames. But the main focal point is a large silver wipe-clean wall where people can write stuff in marker pen. (All that freedom can get a bit out of hand, though.)
Tate has had similar displays for visitor comments at the Turner Prize, and these would be a great permanent feature for a teen space to record ideas and messages. But we want to hear from you – what would you put there?
42 comments for "Hanging With Teens"
Follow-up comment rss or leave a Trackback Please note this is a moderated board and there will be a delay before your comment is shown.a teen hang out for me would be a cool place were theres nothing to do but eat
designing my own space would be a really cool opportunity… mood walls and screen printers anyone?
(creat)e
I think it could be a great thing, so that teens made their own hangouts. I would want a TV, food (cheap), lots of places to sit and something you can do if you want exercise, like a gym but with tennis courts and basketball for instance!
i think it is great to design a place for people my age to hang out and the idea encourages others to do the same thing andit could cut down the amount of teens roming the streets.
somewhere where it has lots of cool sofas and nice rounded eighties chairs where you can just chil
some where over the rainbow
some where with good music and food
i like the idea of mood boards, so there is a lot to look at
free drinks free cinema comfy chairs
under my bed is the best teen hangout!!!!!!
i think that it would need to be dark and have neon lighting
but i dont think that it wouldbee used :[
big comfy chairs, tv’s, computers, music, inside and outside!
been bags grass green floor books magazines cds dvds internet paintings on walls ex: kleih or maggrite or klee
just very zen place!
xxx.
very nice i will visit it
I really enjoyed this blog, and those images of the Minneapolis library are brilliant. I think a teen section is a really good idea, so long as it’s not branded in an overtly self-concious ‘teen’ way (BOOKZONE!!!!!). You need to respect the fact that teenagers (and kids) have brains and can see a good space that’s designed for them for what it is.
Actually engaging them (graffiti boards/screenprinting presses/web design workshops) seems to be a better idea than just making it look nice and hoping they’ll come to read Heat.
Also, it needs to be open late. Teenagers don’t hang around in the day because they’re at school. It’s the evenings that you’ve got to provide something for them.
Hallo I’m italian and this is my first time here.In Italy don’t exist this great idea!I’d like computer because I love it.Inside I’d like moquette a lot of big cuscins and pouffs.I’d like a place for the conversecion to teens because I love know new person.OK I go bybye
A place where all teenagers could go and feel comfortable and involved in the art, so we are able to draw our own conclusions from our own experiences understanding the work and the artists way of life, influences and how we can be inspired by them in our indiviual ways.
maybe somewhere with laods and loads of sofas and something to do with music,everyone likes good music
like the sound of those ideas;)
yeehhhh boy!!!!! would be awesome to be able to go somewhere to hang out with everyone!!
i think you should have loads of the ideas mentioned, such as the cheap food idea! I think its a very good idea!
totaly stupid
i would lots of t.v laptops cheap food
would be a great idea! They should definetely introduce this…
i didnt think that teens would want to go somewhere designed for them because all teens want to be adults.
I think its a grate idea to have a place like that! I would prefer chairs wih a lot of cushions that all of teens can talk,then computers, books, music, cheap food,and no school MUAHAHA ( chek that,i know it couldnt hapen,u i can dream,can i?), computers, tvs, comic books, computers, cheap shops, and did i meantion computers?
if i could create a teen area … i would make it where they can fell grown up and sophisticated but
teens want to feel grown up and in an exciting active modern and bright envroment , i really enjoy paces like picadilly circus underground and oxford street for the neon lights and complex structure
i would put computers,sofas,big tv,mirrors,photos.And some of our art could be put up .
i would make it a place were everyone no matter how different could all be together and just socialise. so lots of sofas and armchairs
i would like to see a place 4 moe food! i like food very much
lots of sofas. and defo a fridge!!!! lot of music and beanbags.
sincerely like the other coments…
Well, i think the report abuout is very interesting 
I want a tomas the tank engine room with lots of cherryade and a bazooka gun
and a hopscotch place with crayons
babe,listen a ideal teen hang out wuld b sumwere wer u can b ursn init not enugh places initblud.
somewere warm its weeeeell freezin blud. just dont try 2 hard thats not cool man, no like T.V & comps & all that shizz, like make it SNAZY like a carppark or a farm or a giant cuppa of coca ppl can sit in. sick
Tate britain was brilliant. I really njoyd mysld
a glow in the dark room with glow in the dark massive bean bags and disco balls or a room filled entirely of balloons!!!!!!
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