Action research for setting up shared kitchens
NEWS
NOVEMBER 2022 : FAIRE CLUB
Meeting and presentation of the project progress by Memia Belkaid & Lina Lagerström at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, during the FAIRE CLUB on Monday November 7, 2022.
PROJECT PRESENTATION
The key role of food in preserving our health and our planet is now widely recognized. Ecology and public health are crucial issues of our time and their most direct expression can be found in our dinner plates. For this reason, eating well is one of the key challenges in our society. Cooking in optimal conditions should therefore be considered a basic necessity and a right for all, whatever the size or conditions of one’s dwelling.
The share occupied by the kitchen in apartments has been decreasing over time, however, and particularly so in small housing units, where it is often relegated to a few modules placed in the living room. Can we then speak of cooking and the joy of cooking in such constrained places?
In a big city like Paris, where most of the housing stock is already standing, where one-bedroom apartments are a highly represented typology, where the scarcity and costliness of real estate is a reality, the response will have to emerge from reflection at the scale of the dwelling combined with the collective scale.
Imagining new urban kitchens first requires changing perceptions on their role, for example, not seeing them only as spaces for conviviality or leisure, but as necessary spaces, as services that enable residents to have optimal conditions for cooking even when they lack space in their own dwelling. This also requires us to consider related issues in terms of space, location, and layout, as well as their economics and management.
In the face of this complex issue, the team’s research will investigate experiments carried out by various actors that have considered the situation by gathering them all around the table. The team thus plans to organize the experience in two stages. The first stage is organized around a unique event serving as an appetizer and putting the spotlight on the topic. The findings from this event will then serve to fine-tune an experience in real-life conditions over a longer period of time—the establishment of a pilot kitchen on the ground floor of an existing residential building.
NOVEMBER 2022 : FAIRE CLUB
Meeting and presentation of the project progress by Memia Belkaid & Lina Lagerström at the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, during the FAIRE CLUB on Monday November 7, 2022.
PROJECT PRESENTATION
The key role of food in preserving our health and our planet is now widely recognized. Ecology and public health are crucial issues of our time and their most direct expression can be found in our dinner plates. For this reason, eating well is one of the key challenges in our society. Cooking in optimal conditions should therefore be considered a basic necessity and a right for all, whatever the size or conditions of one’s dwelling.
The share occupied by the kitchen in apartments has been decreasing over time, however, and particularly so in small housing units, where it is often relegated to a few modules placed in the living room. Can we then speak of cooking and the joy of cooking in such constrained places?
In a big city like Paris, where most of the housing stock is already standing, where one-bedroom apartments are a highly represented typology, where the scarcity and costliness of real estate is a reality, the response will have to emerge from reflection at the scale of the dwelling combined with the collective scale.
Imagining new urban kitchens first requires changing perceptions on their role, for example, not seeing them only as spaces for conviviality or leisure, but as necessary spaces, as services that enable residents to have optimal conditions for cooking even when they lack space in their own dwelling. This also requires us to consider related issues in terms of space, location, and layout, as well as their economics and management.
In the face of this complex issue, the team’s research will investigate experiments carried out by various actors that have considered the situation by gathering them all around the table. The team thus plans to organize the experience in two stages. The first stage is organized around a unique event serving as an appetizer and putting the spotlight on the topic. The findings from this event will then serve to fine-tune an experience in real-life conditions over a longer period of time—the establishment of a pilot kitchen on the ground floor of an existing residential building.
PROJECT TEAM
Septembre – Lina Lagerström, Memia Belkaid, Sami Aloulou, Emilia Jansson, Dounia Hamdouch
Septembre is a Paris-based architectural practice founded by five architects from different backgrounds. The firm draws from roots in North Africa, Scandinavia, and Germany, and is informed by multiple professional career paths in Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Dakar. It brings together architects with skills in urban planning, urban programming, interior design, and product design. This plurality of backgrounds helps the team consider projects under an ever-different perspective, and to consistently re-examine locations with fresh eyes. The team seeks to consider spaces without any partitioning of scales or programs while also reflecting on cross-cutting topics.
Septembre – Lina Lagerström, Memia Belkaid, Sami Aloulou, Emilia Jansson, Dounia Hamdouch
Septembre is a Paris-based architectural practice founded by five architects from different backgrounds. The firm draws from roots in North Africa, Scandinavia, and Germany, and is informed by multiple professional career paths in Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Dakar. It brings together architects with skills in urban planning, urban programming, interior design, and product design. This plurality of backgrounds helps the team consider projects under an ever-different perspective, and to consistently re-examine locations with fresh eyes. The team seeks to consider spaces without any partitioning of scales or programs while also reflecting on cross-cutting topics.
