Semi-Open Floor Plan with Glass Sliding Doors: Light Together, Quiet When You Need It

What a semi-open floor plan is

A semi-open floor plan lies between the classic plan of separate rooms with doors and the completely open living space. The rooms are connected, often through wide openings, but they can be divided when needed.

The in-between takes many forms: a floor-to-ceiling sliding door, a glass wall with a door, a shelf usable from both sides, a heavy curtain on a ceiling track. What they share is that they do not fix the space for good. It can be open in the morning, divided in the afternoon and open again in the evening.

A semi-open space is not a compromise. It hands back to you the decision about how openly you want to live at any given moment.

For the family in Mariahilf, this means that the large room stays. But there must be a way of screening the workspace and closing off the kitchen when required. Why does the open plan so often fall short?

Why the completely open space does not always suit

Open floor plans have become the standard in recent decades, especially in new-builds and attic conversions. They have real advantages: light is distributed better, small apartments feel larger, togetherness becomes easier.

But they also have weaknesses that become apparent in daily life:

• Acoustics. Every sound is audible everywhere, from the dishwasher to the video conference.
• Smells. Cooking smells settle into upholstery and curtains.
• Retreat. There is no place where someone can be alone without leaving the room.
• Temperature. Large spaces are hard to heat or cool zone by zone.
• Order. What is lying about in the kitchen is visible from the living room.

The wish for a little more separation is therefore not a step backwards. It is a response to changed ways of living, above all since working from home has become part of everyday life for many people.

Most people simply put up with it. They turn the television up, close the laptop early, clear the plates before the conversation is over. Every day a little attention leaks away. How to integrate work into the apartment without it turning into an office is described in our article on the home office in the apartment. First, though, the element that solves most of this.

The glass sliding door in the living room

The glass sliding door is the best-known element of semi-open floor plans, and rightly so. It combines two qualities that otherwise rarely go together: it separates rooms and yet lets light and views through.

A good glass sliding door in the living room has a few characteristics:

• Slim frames in aluminium or steel, which emphasise the glass rather than the frame.
• Floor-to-ceiling height, so that no lintel interrupts the ceiling.
• A smooth-running, damped guide, which slows the door gently at the end of its travel.
• Safety glass, for large panes generally laminated safety glass, which holds together if it breaks.
• Precise installation, with clean joints at ceiling, wall and floor.

Specialist manufacturers offer systems of this kind, with very slim profiles and a wide choice of glass types and frame colours. We plan such systems so that they read as part of the architecture. Picture the door gliding without a sound and stopping softly at the end of its travel. You can read more about the background in our article on sliding doors and glass systems. But which construction fits which room?

Types of construction compared

Not every glass partition works the same way. The choice depends on the room, the wall and how often the separation is needed.

For the family in Mariahilf the choice falls on two different solutions. In front of the workspace comes fixed glazing with a sliding door in satin-finish glass, because quiet and an undisturbed screen matter more there than the view. Between kitchen and living area runs a floor-to-ceiling clear-glass sliding door in front of the wall, which stays open during the day and is closed in the evening when he cooks. And once the frame is chosen, the glass decides the mood.

Types of glass and their effect

The type of glass changes the effect of a partition more strongly than the frame. It determines how much you see, how much light comes through and how private a room feels.

• Clear glass. Maximum transparency, the room looks almost undivided. Ideal when the main aim is to hold back noise and smells.
• Tinted glass. Grey or bronze tones give the glass presence without greatly reducing visibility. In the evening, with light in the room behind it, it looks warm.
• Satin-finish glass. Lets light through but blurs outlines. Good for workspaces, dressing rooms and bathrooms.
• Textured glass. Ribbed or fluted glass breaks up the light and lets only silhouettes show. It brings texture into the room.
• Mirror glass or one-way glass. Rarely sensible in living spaces, because it looks different depending on the direction of the light.

The same applies to glass as to wall colours: a large sample on site shows more than any catalogue. How glass and metal work together in interior fit-out is described in our article on glass and metal in the interior. One honest question remains, though: how much quiet can glass really give you?

What glass can do and what it cannot

A glass sliding door noticeably improves the acoustics of an open space, but it does not replace a solid wall with a hinged door. By their construction, sliding doors do not close as tightly as a door with a seal all the way round. Sounds are dampened, not shut out.

For most situations that is enough. A video conference behind a closed glass door gets quieter in the living space, and a dishwasher behind it is barely noticed. Anyone who needs a recording studio or a bedroom for shift work, however, should choose a more solid solution. What else helps in large rooms is described in our article on acoustics in open-plan living spaces.

The same goes for smells: a closed sliding door keeps cooking smells largely in the kitchen, especially in combination with a good extractor. It is not completely airtight. Whether the wall between kitchen and living space should come down altogether or whether a glass solution suits better is explained in our article on the open-plan kitchen and living space. And glass is not your only option.

Other forms of in-between

Glass is not the only way to connect rooms semi-openly. Depending on the situation, other elements suit better:

1. Floor-to-ceiling timber sliding doors. They separate opaquely and, closed, look like a wall. Good between living room and guest room or to the library.
2. Shelves usable from both sides. An open shelf separates two areas and lets light through. It holds books and objects and thus becomes a piece of furniture in its own right.
3. Heavy curtains on a ceiling track. The softest form of separation, with the advantage that fabric absorbs sound.
4. Half-height built-ins. A bench or sideboard marks a zone without taking away views or light.
5. A change in ceiling height or lighting. The quietest form, with no structural element at all.

Bespoke furniture such as shelves and benches is made to fit the particular opening in our joinery Tischlerkultur, which carries on a Viennese carpentry tradition that began in 1935. We show examples on the fitted wardrobes page. What has to be settled before anything is built?

Planning and technology before installation

A glass sliding door is a precision component. For it to run smoothly for years and look good, a number of things must be settled before installation.

• The ceiling. Top-hung systems hang from the ceiling. It must be able to carry the load, especially with large panes of glass. In an Altbau with timber-beam ceilings, we check this carefully.
• The floor. A level floor is important so that the door closes evenly along its full length. Whether a floor guide is needed or an unobtrusive guide is enough depends on the system.
• The wall. Wall pockets need a sufficiently thick wall or a drylining lining. Cables and switches must not run there.
• The light. Glass reflects. Light fittings should be planned so that they are not distractingly mirrored in the glass in the evening. More on this in our article on light as a room transition.
• Cleaning. Clear glass shows fingerprints. An easily reached handle or a pull bar directs hands to one spot.

These questions belong at the start of planning, not the end. For the family in Mariahilf, the sloping roof was the biggest challenge: the sliding door had to be positioned so that it could run over its full height without colliding with the slope. With us, one contact person carries all of this through, from the first sketch to the handover.

In the end the room is just as bright as before. But it now has three states instead of one.