Are you going to put this painting in my lobby? 🔍

No, but it might help explain how the lobby design takes shape.

Over time, room layouts have varied between open plan and closed plan in response to changing technology and social norms. Both layout types can be static, creating a sense of inevitability in terms of both activity and visual perspective. When you can see everything, the imagination has little to do.

The painting on the right by Robert Delauney (Endless Rhythm - 1934) evokes simultaneity, an idea explored by members of the Orphism movement. Delauney’s effort to capture multiple perspectives at the same time, on a two-dimensional canvas, evokes spatial depth and action.

In the same way, simultaneity in three-dimensional space can ignite the human imagination. Rooms embedded within rooms, or more porous spaces, offer relief from a fixed pattern. The opportunity for discovery allows one to make choices, or to imagine. Ideally, such spaces should be open enough for us to see more than four square walls, and yet closed enough to hold our attention and offer a sense of being located in a room.

Why is this important in our lobby? Exploration is part of human nature. Good design offers building users choice, so they feel free to make decisions that suit them best.