As someone who absorbs sponge-like everything house and building, and writes about it, I have noted the “open plan”, zoning, and “knocking all walls down” trends over the last twenty years.
There is no doubt, the idea of a huge kitchen with a stool-surrounded island and bi-folding sliding doors to the garden is a beautiful and fashionable one. But I have always had a niggle. What happens when the family grows up a little and there is less “peaceful” space? And what if that curry smell lingers (yes, I get extractors)? And four mobile phones are pinging at the same time? And I can’t help but feel nostalgic for my grandparents’ house which was a warren of little rooms each with a defined purpose – and so quiet!
Interesting to read then that walls are coming back! They may be sliding, they may be brick and the front room may now be being converted to a “reading room”, but are we turning our backs to the wall? This is, apparently, due to some of us having lived and worked and studied together for a year!
What is your experience? It’s not an open or closed one!