Visit one of his houses. He designed and built them to suit and fit the client, like tailored clothing.
He also was pompous and designed something terrible for a lady who really wanted a house designed by him.
He also was pompous and designed something terrible for a lady who really wanted a house designed by him.
Catalog homes from the early 1900s actually live quite well of you're not into boomer open floor plans (IMO it'll be remembered as the shag carpet of their design era)
All the benefits of open floor plan, with seemingly large square footage, but most of the benefits of doorways, with separate spaces.
I don't know why more houses aren't built like this one.
If you want privacy or quiet, there are other options in the house. Living room, dining room and kitchen are all social spaces for me, and the only separation I have between any of them is a very slight inset wall essentially forming a massive arch between the living and dining room.
I wouldn't want it any other way.
Edit: FWIW I'd prefer to not have the arch between the living and dining room, but the dining room was added on by a previous owner so it wasn't exactly an option.
Open is wildly more useful and more flexible. If you crave a room, put up a couple bookshelves. And I agree with zdragnar: every space is a social/community space in my house, so the easier the access and movement is, the better. And it's not for parties (I'm really not a fan of parties), it's just for normal living.
E.g. my house right now has a wide open upstairs bedroom and we've just divided it up to add an office. Which we've adjusted several times to make it just like we want it to be. Because we can, there aren't walls and doors to limit either space, and it's fantastic.
It's very much a matter of personal preference. I prefer individual rooms
- Kitchen and living/family room together means that someone doing the dishes (or the dishwasher running, depending on your model) can make enough noise that using the living/family room (for something like watching tv, but also reading) can be difficult
- Bedrooms without doors lack privacy
- Office without a door lacks the ability to block out noise when on calls (or just trying to focus)
- Office and bedroom together (without a wall) makes it harder for someone to sleep while someone else is working
Clearly, open works for some people, but it's definitely not for everyone.
Loud sounds leak through still of course, but echoes and background clatter drops off extremely quickly. Particularly if you use two layers.