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Towards an Architecture Without Manufacturing
A Post 2020 Kitchen
In Europe the average Kitchen is about 2400mm x 2400mm in area. About 10% of the whole house.
It contains wall and base cabinets, double-sink, drainer, utensil storage racks, hygiene utensil racks, overhead oven and grill, space below a worktop for cooker, dishwasher, refrigerator, freezer, washing machine, tumble dryer, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, kettle, bread bin, hygiene cupboard, waste bin, specialized flooring, directional overhead and worktop lighting, drainage systems, waste compactor systems, water pipes, hot water pipes, electrical wiring, communications, ventilation of cooking area, ventilation of kitchen area, ventilation of dining area, iron, ironing board, bread board, cutting boards, clothes rack, dry food storage, tinned food storage, wine and drinks racks, drawers of cutlery, drawers of kitchen cooking utensils, pots, pans, fryers, bags and sealants, breakfast bar, chairs, dining table, dining chairs, mirrors and notice boards.
The kitchen layout is variable. Convention has it planned around a linked set of functions of storage, preparation and cooking. The form is variable around this. It can be a u-shape, an L-shape, a space saving linear form and unconventional flowing form.
The Kitchen is also an area of values.
It is a prestige symbol, a rarely used; due to the occupants working hours; they eat out;, a room where the family meets, a room of activity, a room that keeps the occupants alive and healthy.
It is an isolated part of the house.
A kitchen is used only for 1 hour out of 24 hours for a single person. For a family it would be used for perhaps 2 hours out of 24 hours. For the elderly it would be used for 3 to 6 hours out of 24 hours. For the rest of the time it remains a static space and environment wasting area albeit it is used as an access point to the outside areas.
The modern Kitchen is made of natural resources that are obtained from all over the planet, excavated, processed, transported, manufactured, stored, transported, stored, transported, stored, retailed, sold, transported, installed and then ignored until needed.
The kitchen is a focus of energy use in a dwelling.
The typical energy use of a pre 2007, 2storey 3 Bedroom 4 Person House of 87m2 is 4500 kwh/yr
Source: BERR Energy Trends December 2007
The required energy use of a post 2020, peak oil, 2storey 3 Bedroom 4 Person House of 87m2 is 2610 kwh/yr
Source: EU low energy house standards.
The current kitchen; through its appliances; uses a large part of the energy in a home. To evolve a future kitchen must reduce energy if new dwellings are to comply with the EU low energy house standards.
What will be the future form of kitchens ?
Simply they will be low energy use, low natural resource use, low environmental impact.
What will they look like. ?
Here is a proposal.
The Kitchen is not fixed to one location in a habitable space.
As the seasons change the kitchen should move to allow for temperature variance and to utilize the environment passively as an energy resource.
The kitchen has a minimal electric hob powered by a rack of leisure batteries trickle charged from a photovoltaic panel.
In a second version the electric hob, battery rack and the photovoltaic panel could all be removed and the space used for food preparation activity. In this version the hot water is envisaged as being supplied from a water jacket around the flue of a wood burning rocket stove.
The kitchen is passively cooled.
The kitchen has a minimal area of approx. 600mm x 600mm
The kitchen is at a humans sitting height.
The kitchen has no mains electric, gas, water or drainage.
The kitchen has no cooker, freezer, or fridge.
These are all replaced with passive vacuum storage vessels.
The kitchen has 1 weeks, filtered, potable, water storage and filtered grey water reclamation.
1 weeks food storage is contained in 1kg food storage units.
The kitchen uses moveable bowls for food preparation and washing.
The kitchen achieves all of the needs of the occupants and gives them new eco-values that fit the ideas of quality, beauty and culture in our future society.
Ian K Whittaker
Website:
https://sites.google.com/site/architecturearticles
Email: iankwhittaker@gmail.com
11/07/2013
14/10.2020
722 words over 4 pages
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