AT On: The Beauty of Empty Space

Walking through the River North neighborhood yesterday, we passed an empty storefront. Sunlight was flooding the bare floors and walls, and it looked really beautiful - almost like an Edward Hopper painting. As we stopped for a few minutes to look, other people on the street did the same. There was something about the empty space that drew us all in...

The storefront was located on a busy street, wedged between high-end shops with extravagant window displays. In the middle of all the traffic and visual noise of the area, the empty space was a pocket of calm.

We try to use this tactic in our own home, leaving some blank space to balance a room. It's an idea that's long been practiced in Feng Shui. Between the sometimes overdetermined elements of decorating, it helps to have some empty space to open up room for growth. Emptiness holds possibility.

Photos: Art Gallery by Productora

Comments (12)

We follow this principle in our bedroom...less stuff, more calm. Once, our friend's precocious 3-year old was visiting, looked around the bedroom and said, "You need more decorations in here." I laughed - are we are conditioned so young to believe that we need more "stuff" to fill the emptiness around us (and maybe, within ourselves?).

Hello-oh, a painting? It's just an empty room.

This reminds me of when I rented my first apt after leaving a microscopic room I rented. As soon as I got my keys, I went to my apartmet and lay on the floor, reveling in what seemed like a palatial 510 sf.

Emptiness can be so beautiful. It's something about all that untaped potential. There's a quote out there that says, few things are more inspiring than potential.

I used to walk by places like this and not help but think about their potential as a party space.

This empty space feeling is why we all love to walk through large train stations or old post office buildings all the time. Roman buildings all seem to have this feeling --- even their homes had large rooms of empty space. At least the really rich ones had it! Empty space is just as important in a home as filled space.

More Ed Ruscha than Edward Hopper.

More Judd than Rucha.