And here I thought it was going to be about office space :-)
More seriously though, the original open floor plan was the tipi or the igloo. Separate rooms for everything was explicitly a way to show off wealth by having portions of your living space dedicated to non-essential activities.
When people put aside the bragging aspects having multiple rooms, it is more functionally useful to have a larger open space which can be configured dynamically for different activities.
The discussion of the kitchen is fairly reasonable. The kitchen is a functional room and not something you generally use for other things (or at least the part with all the appliances). Most people don't share their garage either as its a functional storage space for their car (or excess possessions depending on how see things :)). A kitchenette (just a few preparation tools and one preparation area) certainly works well sharing the space with other things where people gather and snack, but kitchens with giant Wolf ranges, extended racks of cookware, and more stainless steel than a battleship are a bit out of place. I think those go back to showing off wealth rather than being practical :-)
More seriously though, the original open floor plan was the tipi or the igloo. Separate rooms for everything was explicitly a way to show off wealth by having portions of your living space dedicated to non-essential activities.
When people put aside the bragging aspects having multiple rooms, it is more functionally useful to have a larger open space which can be configured dynamically for different activities.
The discussion of the kitchen is fairly reasonable. The kitchen is a functional room and not something you generally use for other things (or at least the part with all the appliances). Most people don't share their garage either as its a functional storage space for their car (or excess possessions depending on how see things :)). A kitchenette (just a few preparation tools and one preparation area) certainly works well sharing the space with other things where people gather and snack, but kitchens with giant Wolf ranges, extended racks of cookware, and more stainless steel than a battleship are a bit out of place. I think those go back to showing off wealth rather than being practical :-)