REVIEW | Where’s The Best Place To Huddle Up?
Photo Credit: Mackenzie Chung
Hamber’s new building features huddle spaces of all shapes and sizes sprinkled throughout its floor plan. With so many options to choose from, students may be left wondering: which spaces work best for socializing, studying, or even just taking a break during a long day?
Some huddle spaces are exceptionally small, consisting of a single table and a few seats. These mini huddles boast increased privacy, and are typically less busy, as they are located in corners rarely visited by students and staff.
If you’re looking for others to talk with, you may want to steer clear of these mini huddles. However, such spaces are generally free of distractions, and are therefore easiest to study in. Alisa Chen (11), who uses the mini huddle at the west end of the third floor, notices that “in the hallway, [students] usually scream really loud, and they sometimes fight each other.” However, she shared that, “[this space is] mostly tidy, sometimes there might be some garbage around, but it’s generally clean.”
Drew Bretherick (9), who prefers a mini huddle on the second floor, finds that cleanliness and noise levels are tolerable, and similar to standards in the hallways. However, Bretherick says that he finds the limited number of seats often full, occupied mostly by older students.
Another huddle area commonly frequented by students is the blue lounge on the second floor, which can accommodate around 20 people. Since horseplay is rare in this area, it’s an ample place to study and quietly socialize. Ginette Cettour (11), who uses the space during her study block, says that the area is perfect for getting together with friends. “Sometimes it can get a bit noisy, but I think in general, [the volume is] pretty good,” Cettour said.
Additionally, she notices that students only roughhouse or act disorderly “mostly when there is a big group of people [in this space]... just, like, two times a week.”
On the other hand, Harrison Kobus (10), finds that noise levels can rise during lunchtime.
“I used to eat there for lunch, there were a lot of people, and it was pretty loud, almost to the point where you couldn’t hear each other talking anymore,” he says. There’s sometimes food and litter on the floor, but usually the area is clean.
Hamber’s more crowded huddle areas occupy identical footprints in the middle of the second and third floors — although the former is reserved for grade 12 students. These spaces’ sizes are comparable to that of a classroom, and have seating area designs similar to those found at cafés.
Dozens of students normally occupy these spaces during lunchtime and afternoon FIT, so it’s likely that students can find someone that they know. While the noise-level is high, roughhousing is moderate, so socializing is easiest in these spaces. However, the noise can still make it hard to focus on schoolwork.
Another benefit of these spaces are their large north-facing windows. Kobus eats lunch in the third floor space with his friends, and finds that this huddle space “has a very nice view of the city and the mountains, so it’s a nice place to eat your lunch [...] A disadvantage of this space would be that there’s no padded seats here […] like the ones downstairs in the blue area.”
Now here’s the stormy space: the “Las Vegas of Eric Hamber” (my original nickname), in the third floor’s southern wing, above the band rooms. Sometimes, students roughhouse in this area during lunch, making the area rather noisy and unpleasant.
This isn’t the place to study, and socializing can also be difficult in such a noisy environment. Although it lacks these factors, one selling point is the close-up view of the old school and its leafy surroundings, as seen through a nearby window.