This session will focus on museum practice and research insights for designing spaces appropriate for social situations and why this matters when thinking about spaces that facilitate learning. Presentations will discuss intentions and outcomes to explore what has worked and what hasn’t for encouraging social interaction in museum spaces. Presentations will include studies on ways to encourage inter-generational interaction as well as social learning design factors from local and multicultural points of view. Also included will be insights from learning research studies on how social engagement is increasingly being seen as an integral part of learning.