This design statement captures how young people imagine a truly safe space when given full creative freedom. Developed in March 2025, The Treehouse is a concept created by young people, for young people, exploring what safety, comfort, connection and freedom really mean to them.
Using the treehouse as a central metaphor, the designs reflect a desire for separation without isolation. A place elevated from everyday pressures, yet still connected to the world around them. Across drawings, notes and discussions, young people described a space that balances cosiness with movement, solitude with shared experiences, and structure with choice.
Themes of belonging, autonomy and emotional comfort run throughout the work. Inside the Treehouse, they imagined soft lighting, blankets, music, art, games and food. Not as distractions, but as tools for self-expression, wellbeing and connection. The absence of screens was particularly striking, highlighting a strong preference for real-world interaction, creativity and sensory comfort over digital escape.
The full document below explores these ideas in depth, showing how The Treehouse becomes more than a physical place. It represents a response to real-world pressures such as school stress, exams and social expectations, offering instead a vision of freedom, warmth and presence shaped entirely by young people themselves.
