Sunken living rooms were a popular feature in mid-century homes. Now the \u2018nest-like\u2019 spaces are featuring in science fiction and offering a solution to tech-reliant living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Georgina Wilson watched Marvel\u2019s new Fantastic Four film last month, the standout feature wasn\u2019t Pedro Pascal\u2019s deadpan humour or Vanessa Kirby\u2019s platinum waves, but the giant round conversation pit in the middle of the protagonists\u2019 living room. The sunken, carpeted seating area takes centre stage in the Richards family\u2019s New York penthouse. The huge blue relaxation area, reminiscent of Don Draper\u2019s loft in Mad Men, sets the film firmly in the space age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To Wilson, an award-winning architect based in Sydney, the pit felt like a nod to homes she grew up visiting in the 1970s. Recessed living rooms or \u201csofa pits\u201d were a popular interior feature in mid-century homes. Striking step-down dens with built-in seating not only encouraged deeper conversation through a feeling of separation from the rest of the house, they often became a topic in their own right. Even if half the chatter was quips about guests accidentally falling in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The trend fizzled out, in part thanks to the pits\u2019 trip hazards. But half a century on, design professionals suggest Marvel aren\u2019t the only ones tapping into a sunken room revival. The Alien franchise just featured a conversation pit in its TV series Alien: Earth, and searches for mid-century furniture are up 319%, according to Yelp\u2019s 2025 home, beauty and wellness report, with curved features like conversation pits up 124%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wilson and her colleagues say they\u2019ve been noticing a rise in requests for chic, maximalist pits. A client in northern Sydney recently requested a circular lounge arrangement to create more intimacy when entertaining. Another in the city\u2019s inner east asked for a banquette-style dining area that wraps around a table to encourage conversation. At this year\u2019s Houses awards, which celebrate Australian residential architecture, two shortlisted properties featured sunken lounge areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt creates this sense of being enveloped by something; this cocoon-type environment you feel nestled in,\u201d says Rob Kennon, the architect behind one of the properties on the shortlist, Terrace House Project in Melbourne\u2019s Fitzroy. Clients say the space is conducive to playing games like Uno or Lego because \u201cyou\u2019re more connected to the floor\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Luke Fryer, whose company Longhorn Group is in the middle of bringing American ranch-style residences to Australia, says conversation pits \u2013 along with podcast studios and whisky rooms \u2013 are the most popular special features requested by his clients. \u201cIt\u2019s incredible how many people have fond memories of sunken lounge rooms growing up,\u201d he says, crediting shows like Yellowstone for the popularity of large barn-style homes, where pits fit easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrew Leach, a professor of architectural history at the University of Sydney, suggests the resurgence goes beyond pop culture and the general design trend cycle. He thinks a decline in traditional TV-watching plays a role. \u201cHaving traded familial viewing on a big screen for \u2026 dispersed attention across the family, the conversation pit makes more sense again as a domestic device,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jo Hayes, a lifestyle consultant, agrees that technology has played a part in this modern desire to go deep. In her view, it\u2019s about making space to come together in an otherwise atomised time. \u201cWe\u2019re swamped with a tidal wave of tech, screens and artificial-everything on a daily basis \u2013 it\u2019s no wonder we\u2019re craving authenticity,\u201d she says. \u201cHaving a space specifically designated for this purpose of connecting is supremely powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kasra Farahani, the production designer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, had a similar goal for the pit in the movie, saying he wanted it to be \u201cnest-like \u2026 soft and warm and separated from everything outside of its perimeter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anton Trees and his wife, Annie Gifford, can speak to this power first-hand. One of the key features that attracted them to the 1965 home they bought in Albury, New South Wales, several years ago was the stylish sunken living room. The pit has become so central to their living experience, they\u2019d consider installing one in a future home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt has a notably different energy,\u201d Trees says of the cushioned seating area, which is knee-height and accessed via a set of steps. \u201cThe conversation naturally becomes deeper and more immersive as you move into the pit. There has to be some sort of metaphorical resonance about the act of walking down steps into a partitioned zone specifically designed for talking.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The couple welcomed a daughter four years ago, and were naturally concerned about her falling in. Did they need to child-proof the pit? Were friends correct in claiming children quickly learn to adapt? The latter was true, reassuringly. Their daughter has an unbroken record of not falling in \u2013 unlike some of their adult guests. Trees still regularly recounts the time his friend Gary preempted his own plight by asking whether anyone had fallen into the pit, then tumbling in on his way to the bathroom at 2am (he escaped uninjured). Wilson laughs, remembering her friends\u2019 frequent falls in the 1970s. \u201cIt was deadly, but unforgettable,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trees and his wife were lucky that their home already came with a pit. But how practical is installing one? \u201cIt\u2019s a nightmare for builders because you have to do a lot with the floor levels,\u201d says Andy Nicholson, Alien: Earth\u2019s production designer. Hayes warns that, budget aside, the renovation could quickly date your home when pits inevitably fall out of fashion again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u200d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read full The Guardian article here: https:\/\/bit.ly\/4gZCuzb<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sunken living rooms were a popular feature in mid-century homes. Now the \u2018nest-like\u2019 spaces are featuring in science fiction and offering a solution to tech-reliant living. When Georgina Wilson watched Marvel\u2019s new Fantastic Four film last month, the standout feature wasn\u2019t Pedro Pascal\u2019s deadpan humour or Vanessa Kirby\u2019s platinum waves, but the giant round conversation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[20],"class_list":["post-1286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogs","tag-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1288,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1286\/revisions\/1288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/longhornbarndominiums.tmpdev.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}