Seeking social spaces in a tech-heavy world In 1957, the Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen designed a home in Columbus, Indiana, for the industrialist J. Irwin Miller that included a peculiar feature. In the middle of the wide-open modernist living room, painted pristine white, was a square depression lined with bright-red couch seating, pink carpeting, and patterned pillows by designer Alexander Girard. A few open steps led down into the cavity, and in the center of the square stood a glass coffee table and perches for ashtrays or cocktail glasses.

This was an early example of the conversation pit, a shallow divot in the floor of a residential home, usually square or circular, filled with plush cushions and shag rugs. The conversation pit trend had already become infamous by 1963, when Time magazine published a short piece called ?Fall of the Pit,? contending that its heyday was already over. The piece described the conversation pit?s numerous faults and awkward perils: At cocktail parties, late-staying guests tended to fall in. Those in the pit found themselves bombarded with bits of hors d'oeuvres from up above, looked out on a field of trouser cuffs, ankles and shoes. Ladies shied away from the edges, fearing up-skirt exposure. Bars or fencing of sorts had to be constructed to keep dogs and children from daily concussions.
Time suggested that those unfortunate owners of conversation pits should simply fill them with concrete and lay floorboards on top??No...