I grew up in a house with a separate dining room, kitchen, and living room. I now have an open floor plan, and you'll only be able to take it from me from my cold, dead fingers.

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.

Hard disagree, having used both I exclusively want everything as open as possible. The only exceptions are for bathrooms and maybe bedrooms (but honestly I like open lofts better).

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.

Open plan houses are the noisiest places to be. And for some reason the same people who like open plan houses also hate carpet and love high ceilings. Meaning you get the plate reverb effect on everything you do. How living in a place like that doesn't give you tinnitus I'll never know.

We have a nice mix in our house of main rooms (living, dining, kitchen, office) separated by large archways instead of just no walls at all.

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.

OP was musing, the Illinois was a proposed/concept skyscraper by Wright.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illinois

Context is a big part of it. He died in 1959 at 91, so everything he worked on is old at this point much of it well over 100. People have copied and improved on many of his ideas, but it’s a mistake to judge historic buildings based on modern practices.

Natural light is wonderful in a world with AC and modern windows, but the first residential AC was installed in 1931. Structures that could keep you cool where still a big deal when most of his buildings where constructed. Which fed into the idea of building a building for the location, prevailing wind and weather patterns mattered more.

It's called "beauty." If you don't have an eye for it, well, that's your taste. You aren't going to convince anyone with utilitarian arguments, any more than "those shoes are uncomfortable!" will convince anyone to wear sneakers instead of high heels or wingtips.

I've been to both Fallingwater and the Johnson Wax building. They're both beautiful.

> Many of those houses have required work as well

and the owners were quite happy to do that work. I don't think anyone hired FLW expecting to get a regular old tract house.

> Many of those houses have required work as well.

He was constantly pushing the boundaries in materials and technique, so it's not terribly surprising that 100 years later there is a lot of repair needed.

But if you think you don't like his work, then I have something for you to check out. Next time you are in Chicago, walk into the lobby/atrium of the Rookery Building (in the Loop at the corner of LaSalle and Adams). He was hired to do the renovation, and it is magnificent.

I hate the arrogance as well… but, I’ve watched shows of homes built by renowned architects and some their clients have a special ability to accommodate the architects’s eccentricities. They’ll point out some odd and queer things with pride —and how they keep the oddities despite how impractical or inconvenient they prove. It’s like the clients get off on that themselves. It’s really weird.

> It feels equally futuristic, classic and organic -- elemental, even.

This is a great description. Thanks.