Open Plan Living

2020’s ‘Ask our Architects’ Feature, Ireland’s Homes, Interiors & Living Issue Nov 24

Readers of IHIL magazine were asked to send in questions they wanted 2020 Architects to answer. Here are the questions published in the October 2024 Issue.

This feature is ongoing, send any questions to IHIL to have them answered by us!

Our family likes to entertain but we hate the open-plan concept. How can we design the kitchen and living room to accommodate large gatherings while still feeling cozy for everyday use?

Open plan living has very real and practical benefits. The feeling of space created by the combining of different functioning areas of the house into one large room. The ability to pull light from multiple walls and directions, allowing the space to be light filled all day. The social and interactive nature of living in a communal space and the creation of spaces that flow together rather than spending money on hallways and circulation that are rarely occupied. But poorly designed open plan spaces do not work for multi-generational living. For young families these spaces can be amazing but when you are tidying toys away every evening to allow you some down time, you might well think that it is not that practical. As the kids grow into young adults these spaces often become less sensible and actually start pushing people to their bedrooms and finally when the kids don’t leave home, and you are sharing your house with a couple of 20 year olds it may well be you that are hiding in the bedroom to allow the children and their friends space in this multi-generational home.

 

There are three main options for creating a cosy space that can still work to entertain and hold large gatherings.

Textured open plan

A textured open plan space still has all the positives of open plan living but well designed, each space can have its own unique character and feeling to provide a sense of privacy. When designing these spaces remember, the more internal texture a home has, the warmer and more homely it will feel. It is the human scale of a quarry tile or brick floor versus the flat seamless nature of polished concrete. To add different character to spaces, think about adding steps to create a sense of division, lower the ceiling to make the space feel cosy or raise it for drama over the dining area. Generally, open plan concepts will have the dining in the centre with living on one side of it and the kitchen on the other, this moves the working element furthest away from the relaxing living space; however, this concept can be pushed further where you create an L shaped so that the kitchen and living are partially hidden from each other.

 

Although it’s not all about texture, materials and height. A well design open plan space should have a thought through relationship with the outside, the garden. A living room that doesn’t have access to the garden and is therefore not used for circulation feels a lot more homely and secure, while often people walking through the dining space just enlivens. So, think about your connection to the garden being through the dining or even the kitchen areas and maybe use window seats in the living space to still provide that connection with the garden. Also think about the light in the spaces and orientate the rooms to get the natural light when you expect to be in that space. People often don’t get to sit down in their living space until late in the evening when the day is nearly over so there is little point having it sun filled at dinner time.

 

Broken plan living

The broken plan concept has grown very popular in the last 10 years. This is where you start to sub divide the open plan space but rather than full walls you are sub dividing with broken partitions, such as low walls, open sided bookcases, the three-sided fireplace or even just furniture to divide and define.  You want to bring down the scale of the space to human proportions in areas that you want to feel cosier and snug but still allowing most of the light and connected living of the open plan concept. With broken plan living, you can use all the same concepts as the textured open plan but go further, start to divide the spaces with internal sliding doors or Crittall screens (black framed windows), allowing the ability to acoustically separate a space. When having a large gathering you can open the broken plan fully and open it to the outside. With modern design you can pull back full walls of glass and open the whole space out to the garden. Create a covered outdoor living area to allow an easy flow to the outside even in the Irish weather. The more that you inhabit that outdoor space the more a room function it takes on and the more useable for large family gatherings. Think about outside eating under a canopy, an outside kitchen and a proper outside fireplace. Take care to avoid a fire pit to close to the house unless you want everything to smell like smoke.

 

Flexible Living

Flexible living spaces are usually more often used in apartments where space is at a premium, but this concept can be added to both the textured open plan or broken plan concepts. With flexible living you use screens, sliding or folding doors and walls to divide the space differently depending on the function at the time. When having a gathering the whole space can be opened up and then closed down into their traditional uses for everyday living. Be aware that this is an expensive concept as the mechanism to allow walls to slide and doors to fold is expensive and unless it is the highest quality you will usually not achieve full acoustic separation.

 

With any of the above options the sensible solution to the needs of most growing families is to have a separate living room, the snug or good room as it was often called. A space that is fully disconnected from the rest of the living space in the house, it doesn’t have to be that large but a space that people can get away and importantly is connected to the main circulation so that anyone using it can go to bed without disturbing the larger living space.

 

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