The First Atrium Wasn't in a Hyatt

The architect John Portman died on Friday at 93, having designed and developed some of the most important urban landmarks in the U.S., including the Peachtree Center in Atlanta, the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco and the Renaissance Center in Detroit. No one will rank his creativity alongside, say, Philip Johnson’s, but he built a substantial company, helped revive downtowns and spurred urban growth.

But that’s not what we’re here to discuss. If you read any of the major obituaries that ran over New Year’s weekend, you’ll see him credited with the idea of putting atriums in big buildings, especially hotels. And it is true enough that when you walk into a Hyatt or a Marriott and see a large open area, with a ring of rooms going up each of the four sides and glass elevators that look down on the central area, you are indeed looking at something that was designed either by Portman or a Portman copycat.