PROPOSAL: My proposal will tackle the physical barriers within the kitchen in order to create an environment where those both with and without disabilities can interact by the use of a pulley mechanism that will allow for the occupant to make the kitchen suitable for their own needs, while also enhancing their independence.
The kitchen has moved from the back of the house where cooking was a chore, to the centre of the home where cooking is about creativity and sociability. It has become a makeshift office, a place we perch when a friend arrives, where parties inevitably seem to congregate and where we create culinary feasts. Our kitchens now communicate how we live as much as how we cook. Our kitchens have remained the heart of the house and are now described as the social bench within our homes.
Around 10 million people in the UK suffer from disabilities, with 1.2 million being wheelchair users. 30,500 new homes that are needed in London every year are designed to be accessible. Accessibility is restricted within the kitchen in terms of having independence in cooking and creating food, preventing them in fulfilling daily tasks.
I initially investigated into the barriers people with disabilities face within the kitchen and how they could be solved within a household environment. I spatially analysed kitchens looking at how people move through the space and how these spaces could be manipulated in order to be accessible for those who are less able. Precedent images and futuristic designs, allowed me to create a scheme that formed the concept of the suspended kitchen design ‘Sitch’.
Sitch is an accessible and suspended kitchen designed to support those with disabilities. The space is based on the mechanism of a pulley, with the ambition to break down the physical barriers within food preparation areas. The suspended mechanism allows for the occupant to make it suitable for their own needs, while also enhancing their independence.
The logo design represents the suspendable kitchen through the use of the line, with the text not sitting on the line. The utensils clearly show the main aim of the product and that is it a kitchen.
The use of the portmanteau SITCH is from suspendable and kitchen. By fusing these two words together creates a fun and exciting brand.
This scheme shows the kitchen situated within a square, this was a conscious decision made as this was the best way to tailor the kitchen for the occupant in a wheelchair. Therefore the dimensions of the kitchen are user-centric. The centre of the kitchen allows space for the turning circle for a wheelchair, while the distance to the worktops are at arms length meaning the occupant can be using multiple work surfaces at any one time. However, this layout could be adapted to create more space or to better suit the needs of specific occupants.
Choosing steel to be the main feature within my design will act as a post for my kitchen worktops to move up and down on. Steel will be used as it’s high in strength and will act as a strong support for the worktop to move.
The steel will be 0.9m in height and have a diameter of 0.1m. This diameter measurement will allow for the steel rod to provide enough support for the worktop to sit on.
However, due to the kitchen installation not being site specific and able to fit within any open-plan kitchen, there is an option for different metals (posts, taps and rope ends). This would allow for the user to not only have a function that suits their needs but also an aesthetic that suits their desires.
Do we design our kitchens with all groups of people in mind?
We base our kitchens on that of practicality of those within the house who are able with some exception and adaptation for those who are less able to full-fill daily tasks such as cooking. As designers we assume the vast majority of people to be able and fluid within spaces and tend to single and point out areas that are adapted for those who are less able.
Today there are over 10 million disabled people in the UK, yet there is still little understanding of the requirements of disabled people in the home and particularly in the kitchen.
The main focus of this scheme is to focus on sociability and interactions within the kitchen environment. However not just between users but with the kitchen itself. This was a starting point in terms of the initial research looking at interlinked tables, which enhances sociability and interactions between one another.
Another main focus of this scheme is to promote activeness, this is seen predominantly through the rise and fall worktops. The active element of the kitchen creates activeness for the occupant. The design process looks at interlinked tables and how an interlinked system could be created against that of a typical table, spatial analysis allowed a look into how this element could be integrated within a kitchen. The design process then moved onto development models which shows a thinking process in order to create a finalised idea.
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