Conversation pit

A conversation pit is an architectural feature that incorporates built-in seating into a depressed section of flooring within a larger room.

[3] Modernist architects Eero Saarinen and Alexander Girard used a conversation pit as the centerpiece of the influential Miller House (1958) in Columbus, Indiana, one of the earliest widely publicized applications of the concept.

[4][5] A red conversation pit (since covered, but recently restored) was later incorporated by Saarinen into the 1962 TWA Flight Center at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

[1] The conversation-pit concept influenced the popularity of the somewhat less radical sunken living room,[2] most familiar from the Dick Van Dyke Show on TV.

[11] Season 5 of Mad Men, released in 2012 and set in 1966, featured a conversation pit in Don Draper's new Manhattan apartment.

The influential early conversation pit in Saarinen 's Miller House
Saarinen 's restored conversation pit at the TWA Flight Center
Looking down on the dining area and conversation pit on the BB ranch.