Wellness by Design: Creating Restorative Spaces with Tampa Bay Thrives
- Katie Walker
- Mar 25
- 7 min read
For many students, the school day moves quickly, filled with noise, expectations, social pressures, and constant stimulation. Rarely do students have a space where they can pause, breathe, and reset.
At Slate Studios, we believe thoughtful design has the power to shape how people feel, heal, and connect in the spaces they inhabit. That belief has been deeply reinforced through our ongoing collaboration with Tampa Bay Thrives, an organization dedicated to improving mental health and well-being across our community.
Across Tampa Bay, schools are increasingly recognizing the importance of environments that support student well-being. Local initiatives led by Tampa Bay Thrives have helped introduce wellness rooms in several schools throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, spaces designed to give students a calm place to decompress, practice emotional regulation, and reconnect before returning to the classroom. Local media outlets including Fox 13 News and the Tampa Bay Times have highlighted these programs as an emerging approach to supporting youth mental health in schools.
• Fox 13 News — New programs helping Hillsborough students be more mindful
• Tampa Bay Times — Florida schools see wellness rooms as a way to support student mental health
• St. Pete Catalyst — Tampa Bay Thrives unveils wellness room at Pinellas High Innovation
Slate Studios has had the honor of designing three wellness rooms for Tampa Bay area high schools. While these projects are atypical for our firm, we are honored by the opportunity to give back to the community and support future generations.
Spaces shape how we feel
What is Wellness Design?
Wellness design is the intentional practice of shaping environments to support emotional, mental, and physical well-being. While traditional interior design often prioritizes aesthetics and function, wellness design goes deeper, considering how space influences the nervous system, mood, focus, and human connection.
There are numerous studies demonstrating how our environment influences mental health - from workplace productivity to healing in hospitals and overall well-being in our homes. Interior design is more than just aesthetics.
In environments like schools, where students face increasing academic, social, and emotional pressures, these principles become even more impactful. Spaces can be intentionally designed for emotional regulation, comfort, expression, and restoration. A well-designed space can offer students a meaningful opportunity to pause, reset, and reconnect with themselves.
Here’s a closer look at each space Slate Studios designed with Tampa Bay Thrives, and the design story behind.
Brandon High School | Eagles Nest Wellness Room
✨ Swipe to see our renderings vs. the final installation.
We first met with a student-led focus group and shared a few inspirational photos and ideas of the potential the space had. The students immediately gravitated towards a coffee shop vibe, a mature space that was dark and moody, the complete opposite of a traditional classroom. We loved the idea of creating a place where high school students can recharge while still feeling inspired and engaged.
To make this room feel like a departure from a traditional classroom, we strategically darkened the wall and ceiling paint, and used soft, adjustable lighting to establish a moody and comforting atmosphere. This immediately softens the room, creating a space where students can reset both mentally and emotionally.
To balance the darker tones, we introduced an energetic color palette of orange and purple. Orange encourages creativity and optimism, while purple adds depth and introspection. We love juxtaposition and balance in design, and this color palette strikes a balance between energy and calm that supports both collaboration and quiet reflection.
Acoustical panels were incorporated as decorative accents on the walls to absorb sound and reduce ambient noise, helping create a quieter environment where students can feel more at ease. For many students, reducing auditory overstimulation can make a significant difference in their ability to reset and re-engage.
The main challenge we faced as designers was the space planning. We designed a room to host a large array of activities, therefore we thoughtfully zoned the space into areas. The room features distinct zones to support counseling sessions, crafts, reading, independent work, and group collaboration.
Flexible seating, lounge-style furniture, and warm materials help the space feel welcoming rather than institutional, allowing students to choose the environment that best supports their needs in the moment.
Ultimately, the Eagle’s Nest was designed to offer students something many environments rarely provide, a place to pause, reset, and feel supported within the rhythm of the school day.
Inspiration + Brand Direction:
Creativity + Play: Color, texture, and interactive elements were intentionally layered into the design to support artistic expression and curiosity. Students shared that they wanted a space where they could write, draw, brainstorm ideas, and explore creative outlets, so the room encourages both structured and unstructured creativity.
Community + Connection: At its core, the room is designed to support connection. The zones we created in the space reinforce the idea that wellness isn’t just about quiet reflection, it’s also about feeling supported by others.
Together, these influences helped shape a space that feels calm yet energizing, offering students a place where they can reset, express themselves, and reconnect throughout the school day.
When environments change, behavior changes
King High School | Refreshing + Dynamic Wellness Room
✨ Swipe to see our renderings vs. the final installation.
Building on the students’ positive experience at Sligh Middle School’s wellness room (designed by others), the King High School project was designed to feel familiar yet elevated, supporting students as their emotional and social needs evolve in high school.
As with the other schools, Student input played a critical role in shaping the space. What's fascinating is how different the students at King High School wanted this room to feel. Where Brandon immediately liked the dark and moody coffee shop vibes, King students went for a wellness, spa-inspired retreat aesthetic. This aesthetic inspired our ceiling focal point, the paper lantern lighting. This helped to soften the ceiling and remove harshness of the typical school lighting.
Through focus groups, students expressed interest in music, art, writing, physical movement, and social connection. These insights guided the zoning strategy and experiential design. At the heart of the room sits a central gathering space designed for conversation, group activities, and shared creativity. Surrounding zones support mindfulness, self-expression, and relaxed social engagement.
Interactive felted walls invite students to leave messages or brainstorm ideas, while soft drapery walls introduce warmth and acoustic comfort. Flexible seating supports multiple learning styles and evolving programming needs.
The result is a space that feels relaxed, inviting, and full of possibility, intentionally designed to help students recharge, create, and connect with one another.
Inspiration + Brand Direction:
To lean into the wellness concept, the color palette was intentionally kept calm and cohesive to support emotional regulation while still bringing warmth and personality into the space.
Monochromatic Greens: Green is often associated with balance, renewal, and calm. Layering different shades allows the room to feel visually rich while maintaining a soothing overall atmosphere.
Earth-Toned Browns: Natural brown tones introduce warmth and grounding. These elements help soften the environment and create a sense of comfort and stability.
Soft Blues: Blue supports clarity and reflection, helping reinforce moments of calm and focus within the room.
Together, these tones create a serene yet engaging environment that supports both mental restoration and meaningful social connection.
Pinellas High Innovation | Screen Free Wellness in a Digital Age
✨ Swipe to see our renderings vs. the final installation.
At Pinellas High Innovation School, wellness is a campus-wide priority. With calming corners, a gaming student center, and a reset room already in place, the school has already taken meaningful steps toward supporting students’ mental and emotional well-being.
Unlike a traditional high school setting, Pinellas High Innovation serves students who benefit from a more personalized and supportive learning environment. Smaller class sizes and a strong focus on social-emotional development create a culture where student well-being is central to the school experience. Because of this, the wellness room needed to go beyond simply offering a comfortable place to sit, it needed to function as a true space for emotional reset and self-regulation.
Student focus groups revealed a strong preference for cocoon-like spaces with a modern zen aesthetic, environments that felt dark, peaceful, and protective. Many students expressed limited exposure to spaces intentionally designed for self-care, reinforcing our responsibility to meet students where they are and show them what was possible with this space. We took that responsibility very seriously.
Rather than offering more screen engagement, the design intentionally promotes analog experiences, sensory regulation, and screen-free downtime. Zones are defined for artistic expression, sensory support, and unplugged restoration all designed to encourage students to reconnect with themselves rather than their devices.
After learning about everyday stressors many of these students face, it was clear that for these students, wellness isn't a luxury, it's a necessity. We took our design very seriously, and focused on empathy, research, and deep respect for the human experience.
Inspiration + Brand Direction:
Monochromatic Schemes: Layered tones within a single color family create visual cohesion while minimizing sensory overload. Texture becomes the primary source of depth and interest.
Pattern & the Nervous System: Consistent patterns support rhythm, familiarity, and emotional regulation. Floor patterning grounds the body while adding movement and structure.
Curated Art & Community: Student-created artwork fosters ownership, pride, and belonging, transforming the room into a living expression of community.
Analog / Screen-Free Zones: Hands-on activities like journaling, reading, and tactile play reduce overstimulation and encourage mindfulness.
Sensory Support Tools: Multi-sensory elements promote grounding and emotional regulation, supporting students navigating trauma or sensory overload.
Seating That Supports Regulation: Hammocks and hanging chairs activate the vestibular system, reducing stress and promoting calm through gentle rhythmic motion.
This design was rooted in empathy, offering students moments of privacy, tactile engagement, and quiet reprieve from overstimulation and screen-driven environments.
Design becomes powerful when it responds to real human needs
Designing Restorative Spaces for Impact
Across all three projects, our approach remains consistent:
Design with intention
Listen deeply to students
Allow research to guide creativity
And ultimately, create spaces that support real human needs
Wellness design is about far more than aesthetics. It’s about understanding how environments shape emotional experience, and using design to create spaces where people can feel safe, supported, and able to reconnect with themselves.
We are incredibly grateful to partner with Tampa Bay Thrives on work that directly supports the next generation’s mental wellness. These spaces are already making a meaningful impact, and we’re honored to contribute in a small way to that effort.
If you're interested in learning more about our process or collaborating on a community-focused project, we’d love to connect.
