by Andrew Brown and Patrick Booth

The kitchen is often the heart of the family home and reflects changes in society, technology, and ecology. As methods of food preparation change and new technologies are quickly taken for granted, kitchens rearrange how we work and how we interact with family and friends. To explore this premise, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and furniture retailer MFI, organized a competition. The winner, ML Design Group, explains how a future kitchen may become fully integrated into the life style of its users. — Editor

This kitchen is an interactive wall with a pull-out module and fold-down elements to give maximum flexibility of use. Paneled fronts to these elements can be used either independently or combined to form display screens, and they can be customized by the user to perform a multitude of functions.

Breakfast

Flight 806 from Los Angeles was over an hour late, the traffic from the airport was bumper to bumper and it was raining (as usual). All Jack wanted was a latte (a taste acquired from his many business trips to the west coast) and a hot, buttered croissant.

Jenny is chattering away with a client on a video conferencing call when he finally arrives home. She minimizes the video window, greets him with a kiss, and returns to her conversation, pulling up her business diary on a separate screen on the fridge door.   >>>

This kitchen is an interactive wall with a pull-out module and fold-down elements. Paneled fronts combine to form display screens and perform a multitude of functions. Image: ML Design Group Ltd. ML Design Group's vision of the 21st century kitchen. Image: ML Design Group Ltd.   Click on thumbnail images to view full-size pictures.