Type
Cultural
Location
Northeast Los Angeles, CA
Scale
First edition, 1,500 copies
Status
Published 2020
People
Chad Karty, Maggie Musante, Audrey Dandenault
Continuous countertops with ample prep space, built-in storage cabinets, and a big sink under a wide-open window: the essential features of contemporary kitchens originated in an architect’s innovative design from the 1920s known as the Frankfurt Kitchen.
Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, Austria’s first female architect, developed this new typology while designing kitchens for a social housing development in Frankfurt, Germany after World War I. Homes at the time rarely had a room exclusively dedicated to cooking. Dining, bathing, and sometimes even sleeping took place in kitchens. They were often haphazardly arranged, with items crammed into spaces with little consideration for their organization. Premodern housing did not create value in the spatial relationships between the kitchen’s functional components.
Schütte-Lihotzky intuitively understood that the design of spaces in the home have a direct impact on the domestic economy and individual well-being. Seeking to identify inefficiencies, she carefully studied how women, who claimed the brunt of household chores —such as cooking and cleaning— used their kitchens. Schütte-Lihotzky conducted time-motion studies to determine how long each process took and drew detailed diagrams, recording the distances traveled between tasks and creating optimal adjacencies.
She conceived her design of The Frankfurt Kitchen as a modern domestic laboratory. The compact 12’x7’ galley layout reduces the number of steps between the stove, sink, and work surface. A preparation table and swivel stool next to the large window provides comfortable seating while one chops under natural light. Dish racks and built-in shelves are located adjacent to the sink for quick clean-up. Adjustable light fixtures can be pulled across the ceiling to provide task lighting. Labeled aluminum drawers with large handles and pouring spouts provide tidy storage for pantry staples like sugar and rice. These ergonomic, labor-saving features choreographed kitchen workflows, which in turn reduced the number of hours women spent in the kitchen, empowering them to pursue other interests with their time.
The architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky transformed the social space of kitchens forever: HER INFLUENCE ON DOMESTIC LIFE HAS NEVER BEEN MORE RELEVANT.
