Copy
While the kitchen is a ubiquitous part of almost every home and, in many cases, is considered symbolic of domestic living entirely it can also take up precious space, produce visual clutter, and detract from the minimalist aesthetic of an otherwise sleek, modern home. For some homeowners, the solution is simply to keep the kitchen clean and organized at all times. But for some innovative contemporary architects and their clients, the solution is to design a compact, concealable kitchen that can quickly and easily be shuttered out of view. Below, we discuss several examples of hidden kitchens, as well as some common techniques and strategies of designing them.
Matheus Farah e Manoel Maia Arquitetura Designs São Paulo Chocolate Shop With Efficiency in Mind
April 1, 2021
At Dengo, a 16,000-square-foot chocolate concept store in São Paulo by Matheus Farah e Manoel Maia Arquitetura, native
peroba do campo, or mahogany, composes the table bases, casegoods, and bar face in the Meu Dengo station, where customers can customize ingredients. Photography by Fran Parente.
Its 120K Instagram followers is one indication that Dengo is a producer of world-changing chocolate, or, for those fluent in Portuguese,
Chocolate com sabor de mudar o mundo, the Brazilian company’s slogan. Its cocoa comes from trees in sustainably managed agroforests, and the Bahia farmers from which the beans are acquired are fairly paid. Matheus Farah e Manoel Maia Arquitetura was equally conscientious in its design of Dengo’s first freestanding site, a four-story concept store in São Paulo that also happens to be the country’s tallest wooden building. And tha
Copy
The height of the ceiling of a space heavily influences our perception of it. Generally, local building codes regulate the minimum dimensions for ceiling height, which are calculated to ensure adequate quality of life in the environment. But the exact height of the ceilings is often defined by the dimensions of other materials that make up the building, the height of the constitutive slabs, or even by rounding the dimensions of the stair steps. It is common, with the densification of cities aimed at increasing profitability, for entrepreneurs to design with minimum ceiling heights in houses and offices, reducing construction costs. On the other hand, in older structures, more generous ceilings can be observed, which generally enable a greater degree of design freedom. But how can architects make the most of these spaces?