Homes actually need to be practical now | Hacker News Reader

Homes actually need to be practical now

theatlantic.com

17 pointsabalashov3 comments

It’s very hard for me to understand the motivations behind American home and apartment design. It is the exact, diametrical opposite of the design that anyone who works from home, takes work home, or is engaged in any kind of intellectual or creative labour at home would want. And, of course, quite topically: it is especially impossible, in view of such a design, to do any of the aforementioned with small children at home. That may be impossible anyway, but the typical single-family detached house layout assures it. From a European perspective, it’s all rather perverse.

Lots of nooks, crannies, partitions, and doors that close are an essential principle of most apartments found in Central and Eastern Europe, at least. Back in Moscow, which I left as a pre-school aged child, we had a small foyer that opened into a long hallway with numerous rooms and doors. The kitchen in itself had a door, which meant one could use the kitchen table to work or study when not cooking or eating.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, I had a 2 BR ~1200 sq ft apartment with wasted space for a needlessly large walk-in closet in the master, and a second bathroom nobody needed. That space could have easily been carved out for a third room!

The rooms themselves around here seem to be designed to facilitate ‘private life’ only and do not have functional attributes in mind.

Two other perverse tendencies we commonly lament:

1. To combine the front door, kitchen and living room in some way; why would you want someone to walk straight into and through your living room, or your kitchen?!

2. The seeming aspiration in the layout of ordinary apartments to mimic the layout of houses, when they are in fact not houses for many reasons, and serve a very different set of priorities.

My wife and I often talk about the under valued nature of walls and doors in houses. I feel it’sa trend that will reverse over time. Closing a door to hide toys is an awesome thing.

The interesting part of this article was they said open concept was preferred for demolition filming. I’ve often heard people say open concept is preferred for home improvement shows due to the difficulty of shooting smaller rooms(tilt shift lens anyone).

Most of the "open concept" I've seen is just the kitchen/living area. I can see pros/cons for separating the kitchen (to keep a messy kitchen behind doors) or opening it up (more space, can talk to guests while preparing). I can also see why historically they were separate because a lot of aspects (drive ways, hall ways) are inherited from the rich, which often had servants doing meal prep. I do agree HGTV has influenced things and larger rooms are easier to film.

I feel like the downside I've noticed from contemporary design is lack of cupboard/storage and awkward layouts for couch/tv placement (many "staged houses" are impractical for living in--I hate decorative pillows). That might be exacerbated by larger, cheap TVs (but I remember this predating them). Maybe the lack of cupboard space is expected because people eat out more? Part of it is obviously knocking down walls gives fewer walls for cupboards, but I guess pantries are blown out to give more sqft to the main rooms?

My experience before the open floor plan trend was that there was a lot of bespoke rooms that weren't often used such as a dining room. I lived in places that had a separate living room and family room--but mostly the family gathered in one because the TV was there. Bedrooms have always been closed off. Things like a home office or gym were just extra bedrooms repurposed.

The personal space issue they're talking about seems like it would only apply to studio apartments or kids sharing rooms. I shared a room with my siblings and definitely remember feeling like I couldn't escape, but that didn't have anything to do with floor plans.

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