“IF YOUR KITCHEN AND DINING
TABLE ARE IN THE SAME SPACE, THAT’S TWO ROOMS TAKEN CARE OF IN ONE.”
WHY WOULD YOU CHOOSE OPEN PLAN? Open plan is not for everyone - the lack of privacy might start to grate when the in-laws come to stay, your son takes up weightliſting, or your daughter starts playing the drums. But there’s a reason it’s cantered to the cutting edge of interior design. First and foremost, open plan arrangements almost always maximise natural light. One glass-panelled wall or set of glass doors can do the job of several rooms worth of windows if unhindered by walls or doors. Secondly, it encourages social living. An open plan home doesn’t split people into separate spaces, and you can oſten at least see your loved ones, even if you’re all doing different things. Tirdly, though open plan is oſten associated with cavernous apartment buildings and sprawling office floors, town and city-dwellers are increasingly using open plan designs to maximise efficiency in smaller spaces. “In the city, space is at such a premium that the houses and flats we’re designing are getting smaller all the time, and tiny pockets of space can feel quite claustrophobic,” says Bettes. “By opening those spaces up, the whole thing feels larger.” On one level it’s common sense - if your kitchen and dining table are in the same space, that’s two rooms taken care of in one.
Finally - and you may think this doesn’t affect you but it probably does - open plan living is thoroughly in vogue. Open any magazine, glance at an appropriate billboard, and you’ll frequently see homes that are airy, fluid, high on light and low on masonry. “A lot of it comes down to fashion,” says Bettes, “and I think a lot of people desire open plan because it gets talked about a lot.”
HOW DO YOU MAKE OPEN PLAN WORK? Open plan design can look sleek, spacious and ultra-modern - or it can seem cluttered, invasive and incoherent. Te key, says Bettes, is to strike the perfect balance between fluidity and separation. “Tere doesn’t have to be one big rectangular space,” he says. “You could have large doors
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