Abstract Summary: This paper presents results from at post doctoral project with the ambition to contribute with knowledge on the interplay between space, interaction and learning in higher education. Stemming from a design oriented theoretical perspective the paper argues that space in a higher education campus setting can be important aspects both in designs for learning as well as in designs in learning. Abstract text: This paper presents results from at post doctoral project with the ambition to contribute with knowledge on the interplay between space, interaction and learning in higher education. Traditionally on-campus education often is associated with lecture theatres and tutorial rooms, and the physical room as such is often taken-as-given. Traditionally, on-campus education is often associated with lecture theatres and tutorial rooms, and the physical room is often taken as a given (cf. Jamieson et al, 2000). But what kind of campus space does higher education offer students? And how can we understand space becoming a place for learning? What kind of rooms do the students meet and how are they designed? How are students and teacher interacting using resources afforded by the room? Closely related to this study is a multimodal studies field that focuses on the interplay between human interaction, space and learning in schools (cf. Bourne & Jewitt, 2003; Kress et al. 2005; Flewitt, 2006). Jewitt (2008) argues that arranging furniture in a classroom can affect the ways a teacher orchestrates verbal interaction among pupils, and Kress & Sidiropoulou (2008) discuss how changing a physical layout affects social relations in a classroom. My own research (Leijon, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014) connects to the field by discussing space and interaction in a higher education context, where the setting plays an important role. For theoretical anchoring, this paper draws upon a multimodal design oriented perspective called “Designs for Learning” (Selander & Kress, 2010; Leijon & Lindstrand, 2012). This perspective offers an approach to understand space in relation to the concept of design. Space, as a part of the setting and in the design for learning, constitutes an essential element in communication. In this paper I also discuss how space becomes a part of designs in learning. Here one could understand space as a resource in the meaning making process; as a learner designs his or her way, choosing apt resources to transform her understanding into new representations. My argument in this paper is that a room and its resources play an important part in these processes. The study combines video observation, as its main method, with interviews. Both observations and interviews were conducted in two higher education settings: teacher education and specialist nurse education. Both teachers and students participated. Mixing observations with interviews through a joint viewing of the observations offers a way to deepen the understanding of the interaction in the rooms. Video observation affords a multimodal perspective as it combines visual and auditory information and connects to the idea that humans use a variety of semiotic resources, including speech, gesture or text, in order to communicate (cf. Pink, 2007; Rose, 2001). The multimodal analysis is inspired by This article’s analysis is, as mentioned, inspired both by Stenglin (2004, 2008, 2009) and by Ravelli (2000, 2006, 2008), who employ the concept of metafunctions to interpret space as three-dimensional texts. The paper contributes to the field of scholarship in higher education by highlighting how space in a higher education campus setting can be understood as both an important aspect in designs for learning as well as in designs in learning. The concept designs for learning highlights how space can be a part of a teacher’s conscious didactic design. Space, as designed for learning, is something both teachers and students read, transform and re-design in action, designing their paths in learning in higher education. Acknowledgments This project was supported by generous grants from the Postdoctoral Programme for Quality Development in Higher Education at Malmö University, Sweden. Disclosure of Interest: None Declared Keywords: design, higher education, learning, space