Space integration: living room, kitchen and veranda without barriers
How to integrate living room, kitchen and veranda: the role of spans and structure and the care needed with smell, noise and climate control, from someone who has been building for more than 35 years.
Integration of spaces means the living room, kitchen and veranda working as a single space, with no walls in the way. It is the most common request in today's projects and one of the strongest trends in high-end houses. It works very well, but only when structure, exhaust, acoustics and climate control are resolved while still in the design stage. After more than 35 years building in Criciúma, we have learned that a beautiful open space is the consequence of a technical decision made way back. That is what this article is about: living together, spans, smell, noise and temperature.
What integrating spaces changes in daily life together
The compartmentalized house was designed for another era, when the kitchen was a service area and guests stayed in the living room. Today it is the opposite. Whoever cooks wants to take part in the conversation, hosting friends has become an at-home affair, and the the kitchen became the center of the design, not its back.
In the projects we deliver, this single space is used all day long. The kids do their homework at the counter while dinner is being made, the veranda's barbecue connects with the living room and no one is isolated behind a wall.
Clear span is a structural decision, not a decorative one
A good portion of a house's walls bear load or conceal beams, columns and installations. To open the living room, kitchen and veranda into a single span, the structure has to bridge greater distances without support in the middle. That is solved with calculation, not with good intentions.
One of the techniques we use on our projects is prestressing: tensioned cables inside the concrete that give the structure more strength and durability and allow larger spans with fewer columns showing up in the space. The result is that clean space, with no column getting in the way of the island or the view from the balcony.
A word of caution from someone who has already redone other people's projects: deciding on integration with a finished house is expensive. Knocking down a structural wall requires reinforcement, design and technical responsibility.
Open kitchen without frying smells reaching the living room
The number one fear of anyone with an open-plan kitchen is the smell. And it is a fair one: without well-resolved exhaust, the lunch smell ends up on the sofa, the curtain and the bedroom. The solution starts with a real hood, ducted to the outside, and not a recirculating unit that only filters and returns the air to the room.
The position of the stove and the air replenishment also matter, because a powerful exhaust hood in a very airtight house doesn't work properly. On the veranda, a barbecue with good draft prevents smoke from coming back into the living room. None of this is expensive when it's part of the design. What's expensive is fixing it later.
Noise spreads along with the space
A single space means sound circulating freely. The dishwasher, the blender and the TV end up sharing the same air, and a high ceiling with lots of glass and porcelain tile also makes the sound bounce. It's the hidden price of integration.
It can be addressed. A ceiling with acoustic design, wood panels, curtains and the furniture itself absorb sound, and a well-positioned door separates the service area from the rest. We detail these choices in the text about thermal and acoustic comfort.
Climate control: a large volume requires careful calculation
Three spaces becoming one means much more air volume to heat or cool. Air conditioning sized as if it were just one room can't handle the whole set, and the electricity bill exposes the mistake every month. The calculation has to consider the entire space, the sun coming through the frames and the enclosure of the balcony.
The design can also work in your favor: cross ventilation, eaves and balconies shading the glass during the hottest hours, high-performance frames. In Criciúma, with humid summers and cold winters, this balance makes a difference in comfort and in your wallet.
How we tie all of this together in the design
Well-executed integration comes from coordination: structure, electrical, plumbing, gas, and HVAC need to talk to each other before the first formwork. At EZA, we coordinate the designs and show everything in VR to the client, who understands every detail, brings decisions forward, and moves ahead with more confidence. Quite different from finding out on site that the hood has nowhere to run.
The way to go is to define everything in the phase of architectural design. Before approving the floor plan, lock down:
- Position of the island, the stove and the path of the hood duct
- Desired clear spans and the structural solution for each one
- Air-conditioning points, drains and air replacement
- Enclosing the veranda and the barbecue's draft
Integrating living room, kitchen and balcony changes the way you live the house, and the secret to getting it right is not in the decoration, it is in the engineering nobody sees. A calculated clear span, exhaust with an outlet, treated acoustics and properly sized climate control: with that resolved from the start, the open space becomes the heart of the house, with no smell, no echo and no shock on the electricity bill. EZA Engenharia has been building made-to-measure high-end houses in Criciúma and the region for over 35 years, from design to execution. If you want a truly integrated house, reach out to us on WhatsApp (48) 99191-2018, send an email to [email protected] or get to know our projects at eza.com.br.
Frequently asked questions
Can you integrate living room and kitchen in an existing house?
It can be done, but it depends on a structural assessment. A load-bearing wall can only go with reinforcement calculated by an engineer, and the kitchen exhaust needs a path to the outside. Before knocking anything down, call a technical supervisor.
Does an integrated kitchen leave smells in the living room?
Only when extraction is poorly solved. A range hood ducted to the outside, properly sized and with air replacement, removes odor at the source. A recirculating hood alone, which only filters and returns the air, tends to disappoint in an open kitchen.
Does a large clear span make the project much more expensive?
It makes the structure more expensive, but within a logic the design controls. Techniques such as post-tensioning make it possible to span larger openings efficiently, and that cost dilutes into the value the integrated space adds to the home. What truly drives up the cost is changing your mind with the project underway.
Want to build your high-end house in Criciúma?
EZA Engenharia takes care of your project from start to handover, since 1991.
Chat on WhatsApp Request a quote
