large building syndrome

I'm reading a book about Comic Con right now and it has me thinking about convention center design. I don't think I've ever been inside the main hall of any modern convention center building. I attended a seminar at the Boston Convention Center, but not in the main hall. Architects refer to them as "black boxes" because they create a complete sensory experience that makes the outside world seem like a distant memory. This psychological independence is an illusion that becomes all the more ironic when we consider the massive support infrastructure needed for a Convention Center. We call this support system a "city."

Incidentally, the Boston Convention Center is smaller.