A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, entryway, reception area or entrance hall, it is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

, opera house,

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

, showroom, cinema, etc.) adjacent to the

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

. It may be a repose area for spectators, especially used before performance and during

intermission An intermission, also known as an interval in British and Indian English, is a break between parts of a performance or production, such as for a play (theatre), theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening. It should not be confused with ...

s, but also as a place of celebrations or festivities after performance. In other buildings, such as office buildings or condominiums, lobbies can function as gathering spaces between the entrance and elevators to other floors. Since the mid-1980s, there has been a growing trend to think of lobbies as more than just ways to get from the

door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

to the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

but instead as social spaces and places of commerce. Some research has even been done to develop scales to measure lobby atmosphere to improve hotel lobby design. Many

office buildings An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform administrative work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s and

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

s go to great lengths to decorate their lobbies to create the right impression and convey an image.">A Building Lobby, "Way of Design, Book One"

Etymology

The word "lobby" comes from

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

''lobia'', ''laubia'' or ''lobium''.

Gallery

File:Palais Garnier's grand salon, 12 February 2008.jpg, Opera House of Paris,

Palais Garnier The (, Garnier Palace), also known as (, Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seatBeauvert 1996, p. 102. opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the ...

's grand salon File:Landgericht Berlin, Littenstraße, Eingangshalle (2), 160906, ako.jpg, Landgericht Berlin in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

File:Sokos Hotel Torni Tampere lobby.jpg, Lobby at the Sokos Hotel Torni in

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Finland File:GranHotelCiudadDeMexico201712p1.jpg, Gran Hotel Ciudad de Mexico File:Elevators vestibule with flower bouquets at InterContinental Hotel Singapore.jpg, Elevator lobby at the InterContinental Hotel,

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

File:Lobby of the hotel Crowne Plaza Vientiane.jpg, Lobby of the Crowne Plaza Vientiane hotel in

Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...

File:Pless Palace - the Entrance Hall.jpg, Pszczyna Castle in southwestern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

File:Mauritius Intercontinental-Mauritius Resort-Balaclava-Fort-01.jpg, Lobby of the InterContinental Mauritius Resort Balaclava Fort File:Hudson Institute lobby.jpg, Reception area of the

Hudson Institute Hudson Institute is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation. Kahn ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

File:Synetic Theater lobby.jpg, Lobby of

Synetic Theater Synetic Theater is a non-profit Physical theatre, physical theater company located in the Washington metropolitan area. It performs at the Crystal City Theatre in Crystal City, Virginia, Crystal City in Arlington County, Virginia. Since its f ...

Crystal City, Virginia Crystal City is an urban neighborhood in the southeastern corner of Arlington County, Virginia, approximately south of Downtown (Washington, D.C.), Downtown Washington, D.C. Due to its extensive integration of office buildings and residential h ...

File:Key Tower Lobby Sculpture 01.jpg, The lobby in the Key Tower building in

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

, Ohio File:front door (23200352782).jpg, Entryway of an apartment in the United States, looking at the front door File:Silha Mud Room (3769553183).jpg, A "mudroom" at Camp Warren

summer camp A summer camp, also known as a sleepaway camp or residential camp, is a supervised overnight program for children conducted during the summer vacation from school in many countries. Children and adolescents who attend summer residential camps ...

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

File:Leasing office lobby sign.jpg, Lobby at a leasing office

References

Parts of a theatre Rooms {{room-stub ar:بهو

Etymology

Gallery

See also

References