How to rezone the open plan

Pushing the family together has revealed the functional inadequacies of the open plan. How do we give everyone their own space, without putting up walls?

By Desalto, Arclinea, Martex and

March 9, 2022 | 11:00 pm CUT

Marlon Lounge chairs and footstools from Axel Veit have a light yet comfortable form, perfectly suited to small seating zones, without overwhelming the space

While open-plan living benefits larger residential groups through regular and simpler connections, when a little more privacy or quiet is required, it can be difficult to stop the action in one area affecting the atmosphere in another.

Commercial spaces, meanwhile, have managed to evolve the open plan far better to fit their own requirements, providing private sanctuaries alongside larger, more social areas, using little more than the design and arrangement of products therein. By taking examples from offices, hospitality and public spaces, and applying them to the home, we can create a mixed-use living space to fit everyone’s needs at once.

Arclinea's Modus Doors split-material kitchen island (top) and Desalto's Clay oval table (bottom) both dictate the direction of accompanying seating, for well-insulated conversation

Orientation

A kitchen island with accompanying seating encourages relaxed conversation between cook and guest, without it spreading through the rest of the open-plan space, similar to the intimacy shared between bar-seated drinkers and the stereotypical bartending therapist. The Modus Doors system island from Arclinea, for example, splits itself down the middle with a stainless steel worktop on one side and an inviting snack bar of American black walnut with complementary footrest on the other.

A kitchen island with accompanying seating encourages relaxed conversation between cook and guest, without it spreading through the rest of the open-plan space

When it comes to consuming food, meanwhile, rather than just talking about it, rectangular dining tables reserve equal space for place settings on both long sides, leaving the two unseated ends susceptible to conversational interlopers. Large, round tables, however, such as the Clay oval table by Desalto, circle an unbreakable bond around the conspiratorial conversation within, but remain willing to open up and comfortably include others into their ranks.

Maigrau's Turn High table (top) and Axel Veit's Marlon Lounge chair (middle) combine to recreate hospitality-like club spaces such as in the Original Sokos Hotel (bottom). Photo: Riikka Kantinkoski (bottom)

Private seating

The importance of table shape extends to smaller seating zones too, dictating the orientation of the chairs surrounding it. Square tables force chairs to point to the opposite side, encouraging more intense conversation, but small round tables like Maigrau’s Turn High, offer a wider range of seat positioning. Time can be spent in privacy – back to the rest of the room, gazing at another or through a window, or more socially towards the room, with table alongside as a shared or solo accompaniment.

The importance of table shape extends to smaller seating zones, dictating the orientation of the chairs surrounding it

Offering both openness and privacy, seats with curved, enveloping backs provide the most versatile combination of comfort and functionality for small seating zones, cocooning the user in a space within a space. Large, heavy wingback armchairs such as those in the Original Sokos Hotel in Helsinki, Finland, provide excellent comfort and exclusivity, but in smaller home settings, a lighter form like the Marlon Lounge chair from Axel Veit is a less obtrusive, yet comfortable option.

Shade's ØS1 lamp provides multiple remote-controlled adjustable-strength LED lights for dual functionality, serving both near- and far-seated users

Finishing these small, versatile zones with adaptable lighting ensures their suitability for a variety of tasks. Shade’s ØS1 series of lamps are split into sections, providing adjustable strength LEDs in each. The lights, therefore, can provide both targeted task lighting for those underneath, and soft ambient lighting above.

Open shelving splits meetings from workspace at Tosca Debt Capital (top), while both the GRID system (middle) and Martex's Biblos (bottom) do the same at home. Photo: Andrew Smith SG Photography (top)

Room division

At the Tosca Debt Capital offices in Manchester, UK, different workplace zones are kept open and separate with broken borders of open shelving. Meeting a large household’s various storage requirements is a constant struggle, so similarly combining room division with storage solves two problems at once. Shelving systems like the open-edged GRID allow specifiers to either present their treasures or store their wares in an extremely simple way.

Or, as an option with slightly more range and character, Martex’s Biblos system allows each section to expand in size, with bookshelves sitting aside larger cabinets, cushioned seats or planters. TVs can also be freed from the wall and used as room breakers, with their unsightly cabling tucked inside a wooden section that doubles as a mounting on the other side.

The Xuhui Runway park features public space organised in a clear pattern (top), while rugs like Coral Loss (bottom), from YO2, outline zones in domestic settings. Photo: Insaw Photography (top)

Patterns in the floor plan

The Xuhui Runway Park in Shanghai, China, shows how even outdoor public space can influence zonal interior design. With its long strips of paved walkways, alcoved or tree-covered seating and partitioned cycle lanes, the park is strictly ordered by a grid of geometric planted squares like a model city.

Whether an open-plan interior of zones and passages is based on a similar pinstripe, check squares or a Venn diagram with mixed-use centre, understanding your zonal living space’s complex pattern is imperative. Heavy-handed visual clues can be applied in seemingly subtle ways, however. Changing wall or floor textures can visually personalise each space, while even in rented accommodation, the simple use of rugs can instantly impose imaginary sanctions and border territories.

Specialised wall and ceiling panels such as the Lamellow+ Linear panels from Gustafs help to visually segregate spaces while improving the open-plan acoustics

Changing surfaces

Walls and floors aren’t the only way to signify the space change, however. Don’t be afraid to delve into the scientific world of acoustics on the ceiling too – the benefits go further than just a better soundscape for cacophonous mixed-use environments. Whether you use wood, felt or perforated materials, or go for a combination like the Lamellow+ Linear acoustic wall and ceiling panels from Gustafs, sprucing up the ceiling gives rooms a striking highlight, while keeping everyone’s ears clear and heads up.

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