Space Saving Dining & Kitchen Concept
Conserving energy, reusing and recycling are all well and good sustainable living strategies, but reducing waste in the first place – particularly when it comes to home construction – is perhaps the most important step in saving on power and materials costs. Powered by rooftop solar energy, this transforming kitchen emerges for meals and then disappears at the push of a button to make way for movement and gathering space.
More than most parts of a home, kitchens are places used only during select times of the day – the rest of the time they simply sit idle and empty awaiting preparation and consumption of breakfast, lunch or dinner. So why not clean the slate and hide the cookware and kitchen furniture when they are not in use? Designers Magda Masalska & Marta Pala imagine doing just that in the not-so-distant future.
Designed to rise up from the ground and then disappear below translucent lit-glass panels, the core cooking and dining elements of this kitchen are tucked neatly away under the floor when they are not needed. And as a final futuristic design gesture: a set of miniature garden plots (presumably perfect for growing vegetables, fruits and herbs for cooking) drop down from the green roof area on top of the house on call to provide food for the table.
“The house is ideal for life in retirement. Our kitchen is controlled by buttons on the control panel, which is mounted on the wall and illuminated with hidden lighting. The Nordstöm’s house is fully high-tech. Its rotation capabilities gives its owners some sort of flexibility. Thus we decided tod design kitchen furniture system to be correspondingly transformable, flexible and adjustable. It’s very modern but still fits with the traditional elements, which are loved by its inhabitants. They are made using natural materials such as wood, steel and glass.”
“In the kitchen we have 3 basic elements – glass circles visible on the floor. System of furniture is concealed under the glass panels, which are illuminated from the sides. The whole system can easily reveal itself from the floor on the click of a button. After selecting the appropriate icon on the control panel mounted on the wall, the glass in a steel frame goes down and an island-type table, with kitchen accessories, goes up above the floor.”
