I feel a little stupid asking this, but in heating/cooling terms, what constitutes an "open floor plan"? When I hear that term, I picture a resort cabin--hot tub in one corner, bed on a raised platform, all within sight of the fireplace, kitchen sink, and the front door (ok, maybe a door on the bathroom).

The two-story plan I have in mind has an open foyer looking up a central stair case to a balcony area; the cathedral foyer + stair well create over 100 sqf of "openness" through the mid-floor (1175 sqf on the main floor; not sure if an architect would call the second floor equal or subtract the foyer space). Both floors are to have 9' ceilings. I plan to heat the house primarily with a wood stove tucked back behind the stair case with hopes that warm air will circulate naturally through the kitchen and living room on one side, and through open doors of master bedroom on the other side to make its way upstairs. The kitchen is open to the living room except for a wide archway that hides a floor beam. The master bedroom has a door near the wood stove at the back of the house, and another near the stairs at the front of the house. Upstairs, the bedrooms open to a the central stair landing/balcony. The home is much like a walk-out basement style, but the main floor is downstairs, and the earth-berm is limited primarily to the back wall plus about 8 foot forward to retaining wing walls.

Have I described a "closed" or a "kind of open" floor plan? I figure the challenge will be to recirculate accumulated hot air from upstairs during the winter, and during summer to cool down that upstairs without freezing out the lower level. Also, has my floor plan ruled out mini splits?

You can always use ductless mini-splits, it's a question of how many heads, how much room-to-room difference you can tolerate and how cost effective it is. Sound attenuating transfer ducts (passive or powered) can help in cases where you want to keep a door closed. Move enough 70F air and any room will be close to 70F.

the keys to maintaining relatively constant temperatures throughout the house, regardless of heating system type or floor plan is to make the building airtight and superinsulated. A leaky building is always hard or at least expensive - to heat. Minisplits will probably work in any house, but fewer will be needed and your heating costs lower if those measures are used.

What Bob said.

Once you have a tight envelope and good insulation (including windows), you can start working on the airflow.

"Natural" airflow, based upon the movement of warmer and cooler air is most desirable as it doesn't require equipment or energy input.

Next step up is utilizing the devices you do have to help move air, assuming the fans aren't too much of an energy hog. Examples of that might be getting a wood stove that has an auxiliary blower that can be ducted to move heated air to a cold corner of the house, or utilizing an HRV to create a flow pattern when it runs. Some HRVs have 'recirculate' functions that can be helpful.

Don't even think about getting a wood stove that doesn't have outside combustion air, although it appears there are some expensive whole-house wood heat solutions without that might be workable.

It's not enough that an open floorplan have "openings" from one major area to another. Those openings need to cover a substantial portion of the vertical height between the two or you will have large pools of warm air collecting high up. The warm air needs to be able to spill into the other. Transom windows above doors that open or even louvered ducts that pass through walls can be helpful in extending that vertical height difference.

If that central stair case is big enough, a fan to push warm air back down might be helpful, but your average room fan probably won't have enough power.

Depending on your location, providing an opening high up in the house can help create "stack effect" cooling for little to no cost a few more months of the year.
Can you post a pointer to a floor plan?

Posted By ICFHybrid on 21 Apr 2013 10:21 AM
What Bob said.

Once you have a tight envelope and good insulation (including windows), you can start working on the airflow.

"Natural" airflow, based upon the movement of warmer and cooler air is most desirable as it doesn't require equipment or energy input.

Next step up is utilizing the devices you do have to help move air, assuming the fans aren't too much of an energy hog. Examples of that might be getting a wood stove that has an auxiliary blower that can be ducted to move heated air to a cold corner of the house, or utilizing an HRV to create a flow pattern when it runs. Some HRVs have 'recirculate' functions that can be helpful.

Don't even think about getting a wood stove that doesn't have outside combustion air, although it appears there are some expensive whole-house wood heat solutions without that might be workable.

It's not enough that an open floorplan have "openings" from one major area to another. Those openings need to cover a substantial portion of the vertical height between the two or you will have large pools of warm air collecting high up. The warm air needs to be able to spill into the other. Transom windows above doors that open or even louvered ducts that pass through walls can be helpful in extending that vertical height difference.

If that central stair case is big enough, a fan to push warm air back down might be helpful, but your average room fan probably won't have enough power.

Depending on your location, providing an opening high up in the house can help create "stack effect" cooling for little to no cost a few more months of the year.
Can you post a pointer to a floor plan?

Most everything ICFHybrid said except the HRV (;=))
Even the bigger unit only run between 150 and 250 cfm. That is nothing when it come to moving btu. It can be quite large when talking about air infiltration.

That is nothing when it come to moving btu

Well, by definition, it is enough in a Passive House.

Even if you don't have a complete Passive House, the principles can still apply. If there is something about your design that forces you to create a place that just can't hold temperature, there are any number of things you can do like putting in resistance radiant or a resistance heater rather than undoing the whole rest of the design just to get a register or something there.

I agree with FBBP, to keep a back bedroom room reasonably comfortable with the circulation of room air (not air directly from a heat source), up to 500 cfm (just to that room) would be more typical. But there are lots of assumptions in that number.

to keep a back bedroom room reasonably comfortable

Some flexibility does help. For example, faced with a large back bedroom with large North glazing, you might choose that one to be one that does receive a minisplit unit. That room would then assist in providing heat to the surrounding rooms or a bathroom or something like that.