Posted on 05/14/2019 4:10:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Jesus was not born in a stable. That's not to say the birth wasn't attended by farm animals — the Gospel of Luke tells us twice the baby's first bed was a feeding trough — but rather that the animals lived in the house.
Peasant homes in first century Bethlehem were designed with what we would today call an "open concept." They typically had one large room with the nicer living space in an open loft or on the roof, while the main floor area was where the family's animals would be brought for safekeeping at night. The guestroom that was unavailable to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph was that loft or roof space, and the big room where they stayed instead served as the kitchen, living room, dining room, and farmyard all at once. The defining feature of Jesus' birthplace was not isolation, as we often tend to think, but an utter lack of privacy: Mary delivered in a crowded farmhouse with few, if any, interior walls.
And that was perfectly normal, if not exactly desirable, for our modern fixation on the open floor plan is a historical anomaly. It flies in the face of literally millennia of consensus that more rooms is better, and it is a dreadful mistake. The last 70 years of open concept construction and remodeling has left us with dysfunctional houses, homes that are less conducive to hospitality, less energy efficient, and more given to mess.
The shift from open concepts demanded by necessity to widespread construction of separate rooms to open concepts demanded by style is relatively recent. Before the 17th century, especially for the poor, "rooms did not have specialized functions," explains architect Witold Rybczynski in Home: A Short History of an Idea.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
(Luk 2:7) And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And yet, open space homes allow for multipurpose space than can shift functions over time. Most of today’s open space homes are a combination of public & private space.
I would never want to go a series of boxes but the beauty of life is that people can choose.
Raining cats and dogs...was just that
Dogs and cats falling from the high open ceiling beams when it rained and got slippery.
I have seen a few articles recently decrying the open floor plan. Some high end homes now have 2 kitchens; a trophy kitchen in the open area with the high end appliances and cabinets with windows with everything just oh so perfect, and a “mess” kitchen hidden somewhere else where the real work gets done.
Open style homes typically, as I have seen, have no dining room and the kitchen is visible from everywhere. So, it ALWAYS has to be clean.
Not for me...I don’t want to look at dirty dishes while I’m eating and I don’t want food smells throughout the entire house.
It seems to be OK for a lot of people... so their house looks and functions like s ‘sit com’ set... but I like a separation of environments.
My wife wants to knock down the kitchen wall like all of our neighbors have done during their remodels.
1) The kitchen will need to stay clean.
2) We’ll need to get rid of the cabinet up against the kitchen wall facing the LR.
3) We’ll need to get rid of all the pictures on the wall.
4) Would need to upgrade everything in the kitchen if it is going to be all out in the open.
I’ll have to bookmark this article. If I can put it off long enough, the separate kitchen will be back in style!
That's a perfectly legitimate opinion. Anyone who says this is welcome to do so.
"You should hate open floor plans"
This is a stupid thing to say, and a waste of ink, oops, a waste of electrons.
Open concept is the lazy way to design. It’s loud, dirty (open shelves in the kitchen is an idea from hell).
I see more and more people asking for defined spaces.
I used to work for a contractor and he built the ‘open’ style homes. All of them had counter space in the ‘kitchen’ where everyone ate. These homes were extremely expensive
I was always puzzled by that. I asked a customer once: ‘When it’s Christmas or Thanksgiving, where do your guests sit and eat?’
I didn’t get a satisfactory answer.
A big problem with this open concept is that cooking smells end up in the sofa and living room.
The smell of burnt tapioca lasts forever!
Moms like them for little kids because you can keep an eye on them when you are cooking.
They won’t like them when their kids get to be teenagers, too much noise.
You are right. We have a kitchen family room is a formal dining room. The combo room was great when they were little so you could watch them while you cooked them.then they become teenagers. Where do you put them. I didn’t want them with friends in basement cause I couldn’t see them.
Calling this out.
I cook everyday, clean as I cook and I wouldn’t want it every day. We have 20 for holidays and it’s just the same. I wouldn’t want to be hidden away in a kitchen I was ashamed to let guests see.
Where is all this animosity coming from. My house has plenty of environments, doesn’t look like a sitcom & is functional to us. Visitors are complementary & comfortable.
Sorry, wouldn’t want it any other way”
So what does Jesus’ birth have to do with open concept houses?
I would never want a house designed that way except as a secondary property as a retreat somewhere, which is perfectly fine to me.
But if people want to live in those...who am I to say no?
What I am concerned about is THOSE people saying to US: “We are pushing for legislation to REQUIRE all domociles to be “Open Concept” because nobody needs a house with all that space, rooms with a single purpose...we need to save the Earth.”
I was once told by a contractor that the reason that contractors love open floor plans is that those types of home are cheaper to build.
And everyone I know who has bought one regrets it.
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