liminal spaces

Liminal spaces are transitional or threshold areas—places of passage rather than destination.

Hallways, waiting rooms, airports, stairwells, and parking garages qualify.

The term gained internet currency for photographs of such spaces when empty, which evoke an eerie, dreamlike quality: empty malls at 3 AM, fluorescent-lit corridors with no one in them.

The unsettling feeling comes from encountering spaces designed for movement or crowds in stillness and solitude.