Take a room you actually have — a classroom, an office, a hall, a spare corner — and work out which Cavendish zones it can hold. Then print signs, so the room says what it is for without anyone having to ask.
A Cavendish Space is made of zones. A cave to be alone in. A campfire for a few people. A watering hole to be near people without joining in. A library of what the group has worked out. And the habitat that holds all four.
Most rooms can already hold one or two. Almost no room says which.
A cave only works if people know not to talk in it. That knowledge has to be in the room, not in a document.
This is not an assessment.
Tick what is true of the room as it is now, or as it could be by the time it is used. Leave anything you are unsure about — an unticked box is only a thing this page will not assume.
Grouped the way the deck groups what helps, so the vocabulary here and the vocabulary on the cards are the same vocabulary.
This page works out the zones as you tick. Without JavaScript it stays a readable list — every zone below says what it needs, so you can work it out on paper.
Each zone, what it is for, and what a room needs before it can hold one. The words are the deck's own.
“Somewhere quiet, just for you.”
A place you go alone — low light, close walls, the world kept outside for a while. It isn't hiding, and it isn't a shutdown. It's the real rest and thinking that only happen away from other people. Protect the quiet: don't make company or an explanation the price of it.
Needs: quiet · light down or a corner out of the brightest light · a corner or nook out of the main flow · leaving and coming back without explaining
“A small group, sharing.”
A few people you know, close enough to feel the warmth without the heat. The storyteller's circle — where a person learns from those who came before. A campfire is not a stage, and no one at it should have to perform.
Needs: a small group able to meet without the room listening in · something soft to sit on · sitting however you like · a way to take part other than speaking
“A soft place to pause and be near people.”
The open, in-between place where people cross paths and talk easily — near others, with no need to join in. Drifting in and out, overhearing, being among people with no task or script. Make room to hover at the edge. Being near people is the whole point, and joining in stays optional.
Needs: room to move without being in the way · a way out that doesn't cross in front of everyone · leaving and coming back without explaining · somewhere with less to look at
“Where we keep what we've figured out.”
The shared store the other places feed into — a pull toward looking things up and going deep, drawing on what others have already worked out. Point toward the resource, not the answer. The library is a place to find your own way in, at your own pace.
Needs: what happens here written down or posted · things not all at one pace · a way to take part other than speaking · a spot that stays yours
“The world around it all — steady, sensory-safe.”
The whole landscape that holds the other four. Not a spot you stand in: the light, sound, texture, and rhythm that either fit a bodymind or don't. This is the deck's big idea, as a place — you meet needs by shaping the surroundings, not by changing the person. Make the habitat steady and sensory-safe, and the other places become reachable.
Needs: people able to change things in the room · temperature that can be changed or dressed for · quiet · light that can come down · steady sound or headphones allowed
A zone nobody can identify is just furniture. Print a sign for each zone the room holds and put it where the zone starts — the door, the wall, the end of the table. One sign per page.
These print from your browser. Nothing is uploaded, and no file is fetched from anywhere.
A room is the Environment rung of ARLES. The rung below it is what a person actually needs, and the deck is how that gets said without having to explain it: a spread is a design brief for the room and the people in it.