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The Case for Rooms

citylab.com

11–20 of 165 posts

Re: The Case for Rooms

#11
post #2

I have a lot of clients. The ones with separate rooms are especially inefficient, in that teams seldom see each other and organize long meetings to compensate. So separate rooms are equal to "remote" work for all practical purposes. At the end, "remote" teams with monthly get-togethers and weekly calls are best IMHO.

Did you read the article? It's talking about the new modern open living plans with no walls between kitchen and the living room.

Re: The Case for Rooms

#12
post #7

The open (Kitchen) floor plan to me represents the idea that cooking isn’t a chore separate from eating and socializing. I want to cook for an hour without being alone. Privacy in the kitchen would never be desireable. “Entertaining” doesn’t require guests. There is also a matter of space. A shared living/dining/cooking space can use a lot less space than three separate rooms. I couldn’t afford the separate solution…

Why not both?

Personally, a combined cooking/living space is desirable for exactly the reasons you mentioned. However a separate dining room, and perhaps another room for "entertaining" (think a "den" or similar room) is also desirable to me.

Re: The Case for Rooms

#13
The open floor plan is nice if you have small kids that need to be watched over. Though as they get older, it’s nicer to have separate rooms.

Maybe the compromise is having rooms partitioned with French doors. My in-laws house (about 100 years old) is like that, but the shorter ceilings make me feel cramped.

Re: The Case for Rooms

#14
The historical context portion of the article is interesting and well written, but the critique of the open-concept layout at the end seemed rushed and unconvincing.

Anyone here who lives in a modern open-concept house care to comment?

I currently live with my wife, 3 children and 2 dogs in a 1200 square foot split level and we all dream of a big open-concept house some day... but apparently some people are getting tired of theirs and adding walls back in?

https://www.philly.com/philly/news/open-floor-plan-fixer-upp...

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/realestate/im-over-open-c...

Re: The Case for Rooms

#15
post #2

I have a lot of clients. The ones with separate rooms are especially inefficient, in that teams seldom see each other and organize long meetings to compensate. So separate rooms are equal to "remote" work for all practical purposes. At the end, "remote" teams with monthly get-togethers and weekly calls are best IMHO.

[nm]

Re: The Case for Rooms

#18
post #9

It'll be fun to watch this one and see all the discussion about open plan offices from people who didn't read the article.

And the comments boil down to: "I have strong opinions but avoided what looked like an opportunity to become more informed".

Re: The Case for Rooms

#19
post #14

The historical context portion of the article is interesting and well written, but the critique of the open-concept layout at the end seemed rushed and unconvincing. Anyone here who lives in a modern open-concept house care to comment? I currently live with my wife, 3 children and 2 dogs in a 1200 square foot split level and we all dream of a big open-concept house some day... but apparently some people are getting t…

I'm always torn about this. My girlfriend and I (no kids) just bought a 1050 sq. ft. house in a very dense area and the biggest problem with separate rooms/separate spaces is square footage--it's hard to do that without making it feel really cramped. And that's just with two of us and two dogs.

We ended up taking out all of the walls on the first floor to create a large kitchen/living/dining space and it feels so much larger and more pleasant than it did beforehand when there was a (small) kitchen, a (small) living room, and a (small) third room that was probably being used as a dining room. If you live somewhere where square footage is cheap--although, growing up in such a place, heating and air conditioning might not be!--I can see the appeal. But urban life puts some severe constraints on space and more open plans seems to make it more pleasant as well as more usable, at least for me. I don't know if I'd want to go back.

(Though, at the same time, I really value having an office with a door that I can close. That too is important!)

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