Drop In on a Hot Comeback Having a Sunken Living Room
Sunken living rooms have a significant history that goes back — at least in the contemporary sense — to conversation pit designs by the likes of architect Bruce Goff, who incorporated a sunken seating area to the Adah Robinson residence in 1927. In the late ’50s, architects Eero Saarinen and Alexander Girard added you to their renowned Miller House at Indiana. Saarinen elevated the style with a snappy design from the JFK airport in 1962. Hollywood caught, creating a sunken living room the focal point of residence life around the The Dick Van Dyke Show from the ’60s. The trend was confirmed.
Soon homeowners throughout the world were scrambling to become en vogue with step-down living spaces. (One user recently unearthed a long-forgotten conversation pit buried in his cellar.) The style seemed to peak in the ’70s and soon tapered off. Recently, however, designers and homeowners are bringing sunken living rooms back, if for more practical purposes.
The simple and obvious explanation is that dropping the flooring can create more headroom in areas where raising the roof is not an option. But in a broader sense, the popularity of this throwback design is a reply to the mainstream popularity of open floor plans, that, while airy and funtional, create one large constant space that makes transitioning from 1 material to another somewhat hard. Without walls, walls or thresholds, how can you change from a wood flooring to poured concrete when there is no clear delineation between distances?
The response is at the base of the sunken living room.
Natalie Epstein Design
Designer Natalie Epstein utilized a sunken living room in a Santa Monica, California, home when a remodel opened the kitchen, living and family rooms into one continuous space. Epstein recognized the demand for a few delineation. “Stepping down provides the sense that this is a different room, that it is not such a long, vast space,” she states.
Vega Architecture
A complete four-sided melancholy instantly sets this living room apart from the rest of the home.
Lencioni Construction
Poured concrete floors drop to wealthy wood for a remarkable look.
Albrecht Wood Interiors
Wood and tile harmonize with a striking elevation change.
Ownby Design
Regardless of the open floor plan, only a couple of steps down give this living room in Hawaii a sign of intimacy.
Peter A. Sellar – Architectural Photographer
Done correctly, the layout makes a separate although not isolated vibe from the rest of the living places.
Hull Historical
A style will help break an abundance of wood flooring.
Architect, Charles Todd Helton
A sunken living room is a perfect solution for transitioning from tile to wood.
Island Architects
While underwater spaces operate brilliantly in contemporary designs …
Christine Kelly / Crafted Architecture
… they also fit right at home in traditional-style spaces.
Union Studio, Architecture & Community Design
Opportunities for entries open up.
S.I.D.Ltd.
Adding colour or a different material to measures can radically distinguish a constant tile flooring.
Patricia B. Warren, AIA Warren Architecture, LLC
Unique, circular tile staircase assist a smooth transition here.
Sutton Suzuki Architects
The depression does not have to be intense to work. A few brief steps are all that’s needed.
Michael Abrams Limited
Designating a space using a drop may also help create symmetrical borders, such as in this square space, which benefits beautifully from a large rug.
Travis Knoop Photography
Nevertheless, it is not always cool to be square. An asymmetrical layout works, also.
Cablik Enterprises
While remaining open and airy, a submerged design lets the living room choose its own special decor.
Diligence International
A timeless conversation pit leads to the sunken living room here.
Spill: Do you have a sunken living room or a conversation pit, or did you have one in the past? We wish to hear about it! Better yet, upload a photograph below.