There’s been a great deal of ink spilled and pencils shaved on the subject of inner beauty. How what’s on the inside is what matters. I more or less agree with the sentiment in theory. But when it comes to architecture, most people want to have it both ways. They want you to appreciate the inner life of their slovenly relative passed out on the sectional couch while still admiring a skyscraper’s gaudy façade and nothing therein.
But if the inside really matters then shouldn’t we put more thought into the lobbies and foyers of our most famous buildings? People mindlessly admire spires, the least practical and accessible of any structure’s components. The lobby is the site of your true first impression. It’s where you get a name tag from a security guard behind a thick desk. This fact of life has done nothing to make lobbies more interesting. If anything, it’s resulted in a dumbing down.
You get marble, maybe a few fake plants, and possibly a coin fountain. There are usually a couple chairs no one is meant to actually sit in. There’s no food and the music sucks. We’re spending too much time focusing on gargoyles and what color things are. A pool table would be nice, but a bowling alley would be nicer. How about installing something other than where I can leave my umbrella?
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