Atrium (architecture)

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Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the Jin Mao Building.

Atrium of the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center

In architecture, an atrium (plural atria) is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within an office building and usually located immediately beyond the main entrance doors. Atria are popular with companies because they give their buildings "a feeling of space and light", but have been criticised by fire inspectors as they could allow fire to spread to a building's upper stories more quickly.

1 History
2 Types of atriums
3 Tallest Atrium
4 Gallery
5 See also
6 References
7 Weblinks

[edit] History

The Latin word atrium referred to the open central court, from which the enclosed rooms led off, in the type of large ancient Roman house known as a domus.

The impluvium was the shallow pool sunken into the floor to catch the rainwater. Some surviving examples are beautifully decorated. The opening in the ceiling above the pool called for some means of support for the roof. And it is here where one differentiates between five different styles of atrium.

[edit] Types of atriums

atrium tuscanium: This type had no columns. The weight of the ceiling was carried by the rafters. Though expensive to build, it seems to have been the most widespread type of atrium in the Roman house.
atrium tetrastylum: This type had one column at each corner of the impluvium.
atrium corinthium: This type was similar to the atrium tetrastylum but had a greater opening in the roof and a greater number of columns.
atrium displuviatum: The roof actually sloped towards the side walls, so a large amount of rainwater ran off into other outlets than the impluvium.
atrium testudinatum: This atrium had no opening in the roof at all and was only seen in small, unimportant houses.

As the centrepiece of the house the atrium was the most lavishly furnished room. Also it contained the little chapel to the ancestral spirits (lararium), the household safe (arca) and sometimes a bust of the master of the house.

[edit] Tallest Atrium

As of 2007, Dubai's Burj al-Arab Hotel, the world's tallest hotel, has the tallest atrium as well. Burj al-Arab was built to impress and to iconize the urban development in the city of Dubai, and currently it is considered to be the most significant landmark of the city.