Open Plan Living or Integrated Living?

Posted: 29 July 2009 by Metricon Homes

Tags: layout, modern, zones

In the “good old days” out houses were very different. We used to divide everything up into little boxes. One box for the living room. One for the dining room. One for the formal sitting room – often a “front room” that was kept for special visitors. Many people will remember a great aunt or grandma keeping everything covered in sheets and the curtains drawn so sunlight wouldn’t fade the best furniture! Woe betide any kid who sneaked into the front room for a look!

Things couldn’t be more different now. “Open plan living”, a concept begun in the 1970s with loft conversions and modern architecture, is now “de rigour”. People now want free flowing spaces without the interruption of unnecessary internal walls and doors. Spaces that meld and merges seamlessly, encouraging friends and family to interact and share precious time together. The trend, which is unlikely to change anytime soon, reflects our modern lifestyle.

Time poor, we value time spent together more than ever before. Where Dad used to prop himself at the kitchen table and read the newspaper alone, while Mum curled up in a comfy chair with a “women’s’ magazine”, families now tend to share media, whether it is delivered via cable TV or the computer.

We play games together more than at any time since the 1940s and 50s, before the widespread advent of TV. It would be common now, to see the whole family having a Wii tennis tournament for their evening entertainment – even a few years ago it would have been unlikely.

And whereas a formal dinner party was a major event in our parent’s generation, with hours of preparation and huge upheaval for everyone, nowadays we are much more likely to have people around for informal “grazing and eating” maybe many times a week, especially with the advent of well-fitted “outdoor rooms” that make a barbecue dinner on a sunny summer’s evening so easy.

The design imperative that flows from this is that we must be able to move ourselves easily around our homes in order to share our lives. How, then, do we all get some private time to ourselves? Well, we sub-divide our open plan space with retractable doors that can be produced when privacy or quiet is needed, and left open when it is not. Closing off a home theatre with sliding doors is a classic example.

And the home theatre itself is now seen as almost a requirement in most homes – perhaps better called “a media centre” – as the hub of computer game playing, games consoles, TV, hi-fi music, MP3 delivery and now digital radio offering hundreds of stations.

And people often now enjoy having both a rumpus room and a media centre room, so people can indulge themselves with different leisure activities without treading on each other’s toes. The addition of a formal sitting room or a study means there’s somewhere for quiet time as well.

Open hearts and minds and lifestyles leading to open rooms and spaces. What a lovely future for all of us!