Julia Ziefle

Otl Aicher saw the kitchen as being a place of mutual endeavour rather than, as was the prevailing view at the time, the exclusive domain of wives and mothers. In his book Die Küche zum Kochen – Werkstatt einer neuen Lebenskultur published in 1982 he describes cooking as a convivial activity that makes social beings of people. Configured with a worktable in the middle and with individual areas of activity assigned to “handling zones”, an active kitchen is an open invitation to both look on and help out in a big way.

Enlarging the original worktable allows all the requisite functions of a kitchen to be brought together. The kitchen island mutates into a space of encounter and cooperation.

The various work routines, extrapolated from the basic activities, are performed in a kind of a tour of the island, also extending over which is the handling zone. Changing materials on the worktop provide a cutting area in the central section plus heat-resistant and waterproof areas adjacent to the sink and oven. A shaft recessed into the wooden worktop conveys organic waste into a bin beneath the sink and is covered over by a slide-action metal flap to prevent unpleasant odours wafting up or anything else being thrown in by mistake. Extendable steps with safety device also allow kids to take part in the proceedings.