School Admissions Lounge: Warm Welcome Room For Curious Young Families
School Admissions Lounge introduces families to the Western Academy of Beijing through a compact, carefully tuned room in Beijing, China. Studio Vapore shapes an elementary school admissions setting where adults settle into a calm living room–like arrangement while children gravitate toward a scaled world of nooks, books, and movement. Subtle links to the wider campus help this first encounter feel both new and reassuring, giving each visit a sense of ease and quiet anticipation.
Soft light washes down from a recessed ceiling as families step inside, catching on red upholstery, pale timber, and deep blue alcoves. Children drift toward the small openings along one wall, while adults pause at the long sofa and low table to settle their nerves before the conversation begins.
This compact room in an elementary school in Beijing serves as the admissions lounge for the Western Academy of Beijing, designed by Studio Vapore in 2025. It functions as an introduction to the wider campus, distilling the school’s character into one carefully orchestrated interior. The throughline is clear: a shared environment where a warm palette, scaled furnishings, and playful cuts in the walls speak to both adult visitors and the youngest prospective students.
Balancing Two Worlds
On one side of the room, a gray sofa, coral armchair, and timber coffee table shape a conversational zone that feels more like a small living room than a waiting area. A red patterned rug defines this corner and tempers the rectilinear furniture with a soft grid underfoot. The opposite side pivots toward children, with low openings, padded recesses, and bookshelves sized for small hands and wandering attention. Together they create a clear yet porous threshold between adult conversation and child-led exploration.
Playful Openings And Routes
The children’s half uses cutouts to draw kids along a loose route: large circular and arched apertures frame glimpses of blue cushions, netted tunnels, and hidden corners. Some openings drop down to floor level for crawling and lounging, while others lift higher, inviting peeking and conversation between sides of the wall. A tight stair corridor with cushioned treads leads upward, its walls punctured with colored circles that echo the main room and keep the climb visually engaging. Movement through these compact volumes turns waiting time into a small adventure.
Color As Gentle Guide
Color does much of the quiet work here. Warm terracotta panels wrap the adult seating wall, animated by a thin vertical pattern that arcs gently across the surface. Opposite, white walls frame saturated pockets of blue and coral inside the children’s alcoves, so the interior reads as a calm field punctuated by moments of intensity. The palette recalls the elementary school library elsewhere on campus, creating a visual thread that helps returning families feel oriented from their first step inside.
Furnishing The Welcome
Furniture choices stay simple and purposeful. The long sofa anchors interviews and conversations, while the single armchair and small ottoman allow staff to adjust each meeting’s layout without fuss. Built-in cabinetry in pale wood slips into the background yet keeps educational materials and small objects close at hand. For children, floor cushions, low shelving for picture books, and the enveloping blue play net create soft landings wherever they pause.
Families leave through the same door they entered, passing once more between the calm seating area and the lively play wall. The last impression is of warm color, controlled light, and a room that respects both adult concerns and childhood energy. It’s a compact interior, but it carries a generous promise of what waits beyond the admissions process in the wider school.
Photography courtesy of Studio Vapore
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