This study aimed to analyze the dynamics of public spaces of health, according to the references of health promotion and its ramifications, using as empirical field the Waiting Room (WR). In this study, the WR represents an institutionalized space, a built environment used under the responsibility of a legal institution, where the citizen waits for treatment. The public space expresses the social and power relationships based on ethics, plurality, freedom, transparency, dialogue, solidarity, and transformative education for critical consciousness. There was a literature search on the waiting room and document analysis on the Promotion of Health. The field research is quali-quantitative, used multi-methods and was conducted in 17 School Health Centers (CSE, in portuguese) in Brazil, listed on the National Register of Health Establishments (CNES, in portuguese), between 2009 and 2010. We interviewed 91 people (24 managers, 35 professionals and 32 users) in order to identify the evolution of concepts, practices and institutionalization of health promotion from the perspective of primary health care in the SUS (Health Unique System, in portuguese). The results showed a consistent perception of people interviewed with these developments, identifying different challenges and advantages in the practice of educational activities, especially within the WR. Among the difficulties, were highlighted those related to the built environment, the available human resources, the dispersion of users and the lack of institutional support. The main advantages cited were the democratization of knowledge, the social interaction, the humanization, the service organization, and the qualification of students and health professionals. It became notorious the visibility of the WR of the CSE as an empirical space for educational and informative actions; on the other hand, it became obvious its invisibility as a theoretical category of promoter of health, a public space made to encourage the confronting of social issues in Brazil. The study concludes that the visibility of 10 WR as a public space can be expanded through the enhancement and enrichment of popular knowledge and the acting together to favor common goods and citizenship, applying creative, relevant and attractive procedures, from the perspective of our current lack of resources.