The humble conversation pit, an architectural feature that incorporates built-in seating into a depressed section of flooring within a larger room, often with a table in the centre the proximity facilitates comfortable human conversation, dinner parties, and table top games. One of the earliest widely publicized applications of the concept was designed into the Miller house in 1958 in Columbus, Indiana by Eero Saarinen. Saarinen later incorporated a conversation pit into TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Other influential residential projects that contained a pit include the 1955 Cohen House in Sarasota, Florida by architect Paul Rudolph, for whom the conversation pit became a signature element. Many of Bruce Goff’s houses incorporated the feature, including the 1965 Nicol House in Kansas City, Missouri.
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TEXT & IMAGE SOURCE:
Wikipedia.com
Indianapolis Art Museum.com
paulrudolph.org
AZarchitecture.com
Playboy Archive/Corbis
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