Editing Atrium (architecture)

{{short description|Architectural feature}}
[[File:Tucson High Library.jpg|thumb|The [[Tucson High School]] Galleria and reflexive library (pictured) feature a modern atrium tetrastylum with four support columns and open roof]]
In [[architecture]], an '''atrium''' ({{plural form}}: atria or atriums<!--in both British and American English-->)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/atrium?a=british|title=atrium|website=Cambridge English Dictionary}}</ref> is a large open-air or [[skylight]]-covered space surrounded by a [[building]].<ref name=dict_atrium>{{cite web|title=Atrium|url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/atrium|publisher=The Free Dictionary|access-date=8 April 2014}}</ref>
Atria were a common feature in [[Ancient Roman architecture|Ancient Roman dwellings]], providing [[light]] and [[ventilation (architecture)|ventilation]] to the [[interior design|interior]]. Modern atria, as developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries, are often several stories high, with a [[Glazing (window)|glazed roof]] or large [[window]]s, and often located immediately beyond a building's main entrance doors (in the [[lobby (room)|lobby]]).

Atria are a popular design feature because they give their buildings a "feeling of space and light."<ref>{{cite book|last=Driscoll|first=Matt|date=2013|title=Model Making for Architects|location=Ramsbury, UK|publisher=Crowood Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYl8AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA69|page=69|isbn=9781847976239}}</ref> The atrium has become a key feature of many buildings in recent years.<ref>{{cite book|last=Steemers|first=Koen|date=2000|title=Architecture, City, Environment|location=Cambridge, UK|publisher=Earthscan Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ee4XH1wFFFYC&pg=PA292|page=292|isbn=9781902916163}}</ref> Atria are popular with building users, building designers and building developers. Users like atria because they create a dynamic and stimulating interior that provides shelter from the external environment while maintaining a visual link with that environment. Designers enjoy the opportunity to create new types of spaces in buildings, and developers see atria as prestigious amenities that can increase commercial value and appeal.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Sharples|first1=S.|last2=Shea|first2=A. D.|title=Roof obstructions and daylight levels in atria: a model study under real skies|journal=Lighting Research and Technology|volume=31|issue=4|pages=181–185|publisher=SAGE Publications|date=Dec 1999|doi=10.1177/096032719903100408|s2cid=109961211}}</ref>

==Ancient atria==
{{See also|Cavaedium|label 1=Cavaedium, for Ancient Roman atria}}
[[File:Atrium interior.jpg|thumb|A late 19th-century artist's reimagining of an atrium in a [[Pompeii|Pompeian]] ''domus'']]
[[File:Il·lustració d’una escena a l’atri de l’edifici dels banys de la vil·la romana dels Munts.jpg|thumb|Illustration of the atrium in the building of the baths in the Roman villa of "Els Munts", close to [[Tarraco]]]]
In a ''[[domus]]'', a large house in [[ancient Roman architecture]], the atrium was the open central [[Courtyard|court]] with enclosed rooms on all sides. In the middle of the atrium was the ''[[impluvium]]'', a shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch [[rain]]water from the roof. Some surviving examples are beautifully decorated. The opening in the ceiling above the pool (''compluvium'') called for some means of support for the roof, and it is here where one differentiates between [[Cavaedium|five different styles]] of atrium. As the centrepiece of the house, the atrium was the most lavishly furnished room. Wealthier houses often included a marble ''cartibulum'', an oblong marble table supported by ''trapezophoros'' pedestals depicting mythological creatures like winged griffins.<ref>John J. Dobbins and Pedar W. Foss, The World of Pompeii, Routledge Press, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-415-47577-8}}</ref> Also, it contained the little chapel to the [[lares|ancestral spirits]] (''[[lararium]]''), the household [[safe]] (''arca'') and sometimes a bust of the master of the house. The cylindrical [[puteal]] (a wellhead) gave access to the water cistern fed by water seeping through the porous bottom of the overlying impluvium. The atrium contributed to the [[Passive cooling#Preventive techniques|passive cooling]] of the house.

The term was also used for a variety of spaces in public and religious buildings, mostly forms of [[Arcade (architecture)|arcade]]d courtyards, larger versions of the domestic spaces. [[Byzantine]] churches were often entered through such a space (as are many [[mosque]]s, though the term atrium is not usually used to describe [[Islamic architecture]]).

==19th century: Glazed atrium==
The 19th century brought the industrial revolution with great advances in iron and glass manufacturing techniques. Courtyards could then have horizontal glazing overhead, eliminating some of the weather elements from the space and giving birth to the modern atrium.

<gallery>
Image:C19 interior 015.jpg|Victoria Hall in [[Halifax Town Hall]], 1863
Image:Bradbury building LC-DIG-pplot-13725-01403.jpg|Atrium at the center of the [[Bradbury Building]] in Los Angeles
</gallery>

==Modern-day atria==

[[Fire control]] is an important aspect of contemporary atrium design due to criticism that poorly designed atria could allow fire to spread to a building's upper stories more quickly. Another downside to incorporating an atrium is that it typically creates unused vertical space which could otherwise be occupied by additional floors.

One of the main [[public spaces]] at [[Federation Square]], in [[Melbourne]], Australia, is called [[The Atrium, Federation Square|The Atrium]] and is a street-like space, five stories high with glazed walls and roof. The structure and glazing pattern follow the system of [[fractals]] used to arrange the panels on the rest of the facades at Federation Square.

In [[Nashville, Tennessee]], U.S., the [[Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center|Opryland Hotel]] hosts 4 different large atria, spanning {{convert|9|acre|m2}} of glass ceiling in total, in the hotel above the [[garden]]s of: Delta, Cascades, Garden-Conservatories, and Magnolia.

When it opened in 2019, the [[Leeza SOHO]] in [[Beijing]], had the world's tallest atrium at {{convert|194|m|ft|0}}, replacing the previous record-holder, the [[Burj Al Arab]] in [[Dubai]].<ref name="Construction Review Online 2019">{{cite web | title=China opens skyscraper with world's tallest atrium twisting | website=Construction Review Online | date=2019-11-21 | url=https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/11/china-opens-skyscraper-with-worlds-tallest-atrium-twisting/ | access-date=2020-07-06 | archive-url=https://archive.today/20200706072213/https://constructionreviewonline.com/2019/11/china-opens-skyscraper-with-worlds-tallest-atrium-twisting/ | archive-date=2020-07-06 | url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Luxor Hotel]], in [[Las Vegas Strip|Las Vegas]], [[Nevada]], has the largest atrium in the world (by volume) at {{convert|29|e6cuft|m3}}.

===Gallery===
<gallery>
File:One-Bligh Street Sydney.jpg|The atrium of [[1 Bligh Street]], a [[Sydney]] office tower, looking upwards
File:Shanghai Grand Hyatt Atrium.jpg|Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the [[Jin Mao Building]]
File:New York State Theater atrium by David Shankbone.jpg|Atrium of the [[David H. Koch Theater|New York State Theater]] at [[Lincoln Center]]
File:VirgoPiazza.JPG|The Grand Piazza atrium inside the [[SuperStar Virgo]]
File:Gould Court atrium at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Washington.jpg|Four floor atrium of Gould Hall, [[College of Built Environments]], at the [[University of Washington]]
File:Grand Doubletree east atrium up.jpg|The [[The Grand Doubletree|Grand Doubletree]] hotel/condo in [[Downtown Miami]] 42 story atrium
File:Complexe Desjardins, Grande Place 2005-10-22.jpg|Atrium of [[Complexe Desjardins]], [[Montreal]]
File:Kurayoshi Park Square04n4592.jpg|Atrium of Kurayoshi Park Square in [[Kurayoshi]], [[Japan]]
File:Water Tower Place - Glass Elevators.jpg|Multi-floor '''atrium''' with three see-through [[octagon]]al [[elevator shaft]]s in [[Water Tower Place]] in [[Chicago, IL|Chicago]]
File:Interior of Fermi Lab Wilson Hall.JPG|Interior of Wilson Hall at [[Fermi Lab]] in [[Illinois]]
File:Piarco International Airport Atrium.jpg|Main atrium of [[Piarco International Airport]]
File:Myer Melbourne, 2012.jpg|Atrium of a [[Myer]] store in [[Melbourne]], looking from the top floor to the ground floor
File:200 Public Square atrium.jpg|An atrium exterior of the [[200 Public Square]] building in [[Downtown Cleveland]], [[Ohio]].
File:Peabody Essex Museum - Salem, Massachusetts - DSC06782.jpg|Atrium (architecture) [[Salem, Massachusetts]] PEM * [[Peabody Essex Museum]]
File:Chazhur Kovilakam Nalukettu.JPG|A ''nadumuttam'', or the central atrium of a [[Kerala]] [[Nālukettu]].
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|Architecture}}
* ''[[Cavaedium]]''
* [[Courtyard]]
* [[Panopticon]]
* [[Quadrangle (architecture)|Quadrangle]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{commons category|Atriums}}
* {{cite EB9 |wstitle= Atrium |volume= III |page=50 |short=1}}
* {{cite book | last=Roth | first=Leland M. | title=Understanding Architecture: Its Elements History and Meaning | location=Oxford, UK | publisher=Westview Press | year=1993 | isbn=0-06-430158-3 | page=[https://archive.org/details/understandingarc00roth/page/520 520] | url=https://archive.org/details/understandingarc00roth/page/520 }}

{{Room}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Architectural elements]]
[[Category:Rooms]]
[[Category:Courtyards|*Atrium]]