Atrium (architecture)
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Shanghai_Grand_Hyatt_Atrium.jpg
Shanghai_Grand_Hyatt_Atrium.jpg
Looking up inside the 32-story atrium of the Shanghai Grand Hyatt, part of the Jin Mao Building.
In architecture, an atrium (plural atria) is a large open space, often several stories high and having a glazed roof and/or large windows, often situated within an office building and usually located immediately beyond the main entrance doors. Atria are popular with companies because they give their buildings "a feeling of space and light", but have been criticised by fire inspectors as they could allow fire to spread to a building's upper stories more quickly.
The Latin word atrium refered to the open central court, from which the enclosed rooms led off, in the type of large ancient Roman house known as a domus.