Open plan living

The two loopholes in the wall between the kitchen and the bathroom, a prime example of Moroccan inspiration

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The bed’s headboard is custom made in a clay color to maximize light and warmth, and has plenty of storage space. It is another essential element of the apartment, since storage was lacking. The bedside tables can be removed, and there are plenty of lighting options, such as LED spotlights above the bed and bedside lamps for reading.

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Flexible screening. This smart piece of cabinetry combines understairs storage with wooden louvers for a versatile partition that’s good looking, whether the slats are open or shut. It forms the wall of a staircase and combines drawers with a thoughtfully designed screen, which also helps with sound insulation.

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Warming centerpiece. This central wood-burning stove serves as a marker for where the kitchen–dining room ends and a casual seating area starts. I bet it gives off brilliant heat, too.

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Translucent screen. A suspended fabric screen shields one area in this large, open space, while a glass half wall keeps the kitchen in touch with the living area — but not too close.

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Define with color. A kitchen island or peninsula is a tried and true way to mark a division between kitchen and dining or living areas. Here a row of bar stools adds a visual line of bright green that eases the transition between work and play areas.

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Custom sliders. This striking piece of screening opens the kitchen when the cook wants company and can screen it off for a nice sense of enclosure without any hint of claustrophobia.

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Interior window. The owners of this open-plan space have set aside a central area for work. They’ve used metal-framed glass to create a dedicated office that is connected to the adjoining areas. The lucky home worker doesn’t feel cut off but can still get the job done.

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See-through shelves. Favorite finds provide subtle screening in wide, open-back shelves. This is a good example of adding a wall that isn’t a wall; the structure creates a cozy corner that borrows light and views from the rest of the house.

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Make furniture work. A low storage cabinet cordons off a cozy corner in this vast barn space. It doesn’t interfere with the lofty grace of the building, but it does create a more human scale and a place where people can retreat to for TV watching, games and reading.

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Shelving and cabinetry units can be used to partition space without the visual heft of a framed wall.

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Open shelving. Bookshelves make excellent spatial dividers. Their density can be altered based on the number of books stored. If the clutter of the book spine activates your inner obsessive, you can use translucent materials to soften the effect, as shown here.

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Sliding walls. The flexibility this arrangement offers is really appealing. It allows for the transformation between open and closed as the need arises. This method is possibly the most diverse in terms of the types of problems it can address, including noise, privacy and how large a room feels. It also can change the amount of light a room receives and alter traffic patterns.

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A fixed glass plane defines the circulation zone of this room and doubles as a guardrail for the stair. Glass partitions can be quite expensive, but the trade-off is a clean, modern material that diffuses natural light and helps contain sound. Custom etching the glass partition, as has been done here, can alter the degree to which one feels connected to or separated from the adjacent spaces.

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Here the thin plane is composed of vertical slats separating the circulation from that of the kitchen. The spacing and depth of the slats can be changed to adjust the degree of separation.

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Using thin planes to suggest subdivisions of activity in a larger space works well too. Centering the thin plane in the room allows for circulation at the edges and activity in the middle. Another option for the partition is to position it to one side, which would make the subdivided space feel more room-like.

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Small spaces benefit the most from the subdivision of space using the thick wall concept. Rather than making a small space even smaller, the architect here has chosen to use a freestanding cabinetry unit to provide storage, a small concealed changing area and a functional headboard for the bed. By floating the unit and not connecting it to the ceiling, the feeling of openness and light is preserved.

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A freestanding partition can act as a container supporting the function of spaces. This integrated, thick wall can both conserve the open-plan layout and provide separation when needed. It works well in this kind of configuration, flanked by pocket doors. While the entire space isn’t open to the adjacent areas, it offers a sense of both openness and enclosure. The pocket doors make this marriage possible by lending the ability to completely close off the bedroom.

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The design reinforces the physical separation with different materials used on the inside of the workspace too. Here the warm backdrop of the wood tones picks up on the floor and creates a more intimately scaled space. The room-within-the-room concept works well when the bounding walls of the space appear to float, as they do here. This allows the larger space a presence on the inside of the smaller space and a sense of the smaller interior space when viewed from the larger room.

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Room within a room. The designer of this loft in Minneapolis skillfully addressed the idea of connected separation. Two freestanding leaf-shaped curved partitions conceal an office space in the larger room. The workspace is anchored in the thicker, heavier mass (on the right), while the floating screen wall conceals a collection of books. The freestanding object in space is sculptural and made lighter by the canvas-like floating screen.

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