OPINION

By Plinth Studio · Jun 2025 · 2 min read

Open-plan isn't wrong. Treating it as the default answer to every brief is.

For about two decades, ‘can we open this up?’ has been the single most common request we get on a renovation brief, regardless of the actual problem the client is trying to solve.

Sometimes it's the right answer — a dark, chopped-up ground floor genuinely benefits from fewer walls and more light. But sometimes the actual problem is a kitchen that's too small, or a living room with no clear place to sit, and knocking down a wall just moves the problem into a bigger room.

Open-plan spaces also come with a cost people don't budget for: noise travels everywhere, cooking smells reach the sofa, and there's nowhere left to close a door when you need quiet. We've put walls back for clients who removed them a decade ago.

We ask what the actual complaint is before we agree to the wall coming down. Sometimes the answer is a different wall, or no wall at all — just a better window.