Although there is considerable interest in learning spaces in higher education, the relationship between spaces and learning is complex and not well-understood. Despite challenges, such as the lack of comparability between studies, we need to learn more about the interaction of space design and learning. A crucial step towards this is the creation of a descriptive framework to elucidate connections between space, teaching and learning. This article offers such a framework, developed from a grounded analysis of learning, teaching, space and context in a body of literature on one particular innovation in which space and pedagogy are strongly inter-related. We hope that the framework might be further developed by the community, allowing us to build an evidence base to advance our understanding of how the design of learning spaces can contribute to learning and teaching.