The curious case of atrium urbanism: voids in and of capitalism

Abstract

All produced spaces are curious since they could, by definition, be different. Atriums—double height or greater vertical voids typically to be found in skyscrapers’ lobbies—are an interesting illustration of this general contention. An internal feature of super-tall architecture the world over, the atrium flourishes in parts of cities where land value is high and given that atria could be occupied with directly rentable space this is an ostensibly puzzling affinity. Drawing primarily on the ideas of Henri Lefebvre and Walter Benjamin, this paper suggests that the presence of atria in major commercial—and increasingly public—buildings grows from oblique attempts to generate surplus value. Paradoxically, it is the voided space of the atrium that explains this strategy. My argument is that voids of open space can actually increase the value of objects, bodies, and practices that are assembled in and around them; paradoxically ‘emptiness’ itself can be monetised in a context of rentier capitalism. Defamiliarising the atrium, which is a distinctive and singular architectural feature of this moment, suggests a wider research agenda for those interested in critical analysis of the contradictory spaces that are produced when capital builds.