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Interior Design vocabulary · Space Planning

Open-plan

Meaning in interior design, with examples

/ˌəʊpən ˈplæn/adjectiveCore term

In interior design, open-plan means: Describes a space where several areas, such as the kitchen, dining and living room, share one large room without walls between them.

In Turkish: açık plan, açık planlı

How it is used

Very common in residential and office projects. British English says open-plan kitchen or open-plan office; American English often says open floor plan or open concept. Typical issues are noise, cooking smells and how to define zones.

Example sentences

  1. They want an open-plan kitchen and living area, but with a sliding door to keep in the cooking smells.

  2. Open-plan offices need good acoustics, or nobody can concentrate.

Common collocations

  • open-plan kitchen
  • open-plan living
  • open-plan office
  • open-plan layout
  • zoningDividing a space into areas for different activities, such as cooking, eating, relaxing or working, using furniture, rugs, lighting or changes in floor and ceiling.
  • open upTo make a space bigger and more connected, or make it feel that way, for example by removing walls, widening openings or using lighter colours and mirrors.
  • layoutThe way rooms, furniture and fittings are arranged within a space, including where things are placed and how people move between them.
  • kitchen islandA freestanding block of cabinets with a worktop in the middle of a kitchen, used for preparing food, for storage and often for casual meals.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Space Planning

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