"lobby design" is correct and usable in written English, specifically when referring to the physical design of a lobby, such as in a hotel or office building.
For example, "The lobby design features a modern wood-paneled wall with colorful abstract art accents."
Another portion of the lobby design, however, points up a problem with collaborative work.
Not far from my apartment is a standard 1960's office building whose lobby design bears the derangement typical of that era.
The lobby design, for example, started out with the feel of a night club, with a lot of dark wood, and was replaced with lighter tones and softer furniture.
"When we started to discuss what the lobby would look like, I said the only thing I care about is that there should be art on the walls," said Robinson Holloway, a former sportswriter and a painter who was on the building's most recent lobby design committee.
Hotels are expected to spend $3.5 billion this year to upgrade items including sheets, pillows, lobby design and décor, 30 percent more than in 2010, according to Bjorn Hanson, divisional dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management at New York University.
The lobby design also features a prismatic atrium, with rotating exhibitions and light projections in the evenings.
"Light will filter into the lobby designed as an intimate jewel box," Mr. O'Hara said.
Squeezed into a bank lobby designed by Stanford White were 82 -- count 'em, 82 -- tables of 10.
"This was going to be the ne plus ultra, with marble floors and a lobby designed by Valerian Rybar," he said.
On a recent Monday, 12 men sat in the lobby, designed to resemble a courtyard in a traditional house.
The new lobby, designed by Gensler, is spare and sleek, and much taller than the old one.
