Smart Kitchens for People with Cognitive Impairments: A Qualitative Study of Design Requirements

Individuals with cognitive impairments currently leverage extensive human resources during their transitions from assisted living to independent living. In Western Europe, many government-supported volunteer organizations provide sheltered living facilities; supervised environments in which people with cognitive impairments collaboratively learn daily living skills. In this paper, we describe communal cooking practices in sheltered living facilities and identify opportunities for supporting these with interactive technology to reduce volunteer workload. We conducted two contextual observations of twelve people with cognitive impairments cooking in sheltered living facilities and supplemented this data through interviews with four employees and volunteers who supervise them. Through thematic analysis, we identified four themes to inform design requirements for communal cooking activities: Work organization, community, supervision, and practicalities. Based on these, we present five design implications for assistive systems in kitchens for people with cognitive deficiencies

Older people's experiences of their kitchens: 2000 to 2010

Purpose – This paper aims to present the quantitative results based on a comparison and evaluation of older people's experiences, needs and wants from their current kitchens, combining and comparing the results obtained from two studies conducted in 2000 and 2010 to see what progress has been made. Design/methodology/approach – A study in 2010 investigated the life-long and contemporary experiences of kitchens of 48 people aged over 60 years of age. The research included detailed questionnaire interviews asking people about their experiences of living in their current kitchen. A previous study, conducted in 2000, asked many of the same questions of 22 people in the same age group. Findings – By combining and comparing the two sets of data it seems that only limited progress has been made in terms of kitchen design meeting the needs of older people between 2000 and 2010. Research limitations/implications – Owing to the small sizes of the samples it is not possible to compare the figures statistically or present them as fully representative of the British older population but while the two samples are limited both had similar characteristics of age and gender, so differences do show potential trends over time. Practical implications – The research refers to guidance and a computer based design tool and identifies a number of practical implications for design. Social implications – As people age their abilities and needs can change and their kitchen may no longer be as accessible or appropriate to their needs. Originality/value – This paper adds to the relevant guidance for designers, developers and managers of buildings where the continued personal use of a kitchen is important for continuing independence of older people

Characterising Draught in Mediterranean Multifamily Housing

Social housing dating from the postwar years through the end of the twentieth century is one of the major stores of European cities’ residential stock. As it is generally characterised by a poor thermal performance and an ine cient control of energy consumption, it constitutes one of the main targets for residential heritage renewal. This study aimed to locate and quantify air leaks across building envelopes in Mediterranean multifamily housing with a view to curbing the uncontrolled inflow of outdoor air that has a direct impact on occupant comfort and housing energy demand. Airtightness tests conducted in a series of protocols to quantify draught across envelope elements were supplemented with qualitative infrared thermographic and smoke tests to locate leakage pathways. Air was found to flow mainly across façade enclosures, primarily around openings, as well as through service penetrations in walls between flats and communal areas accommodating electrical and telecommunication wires and water supply, domestic hot water (DHW), and drainage pipes. The general absence of evidence of draught across structural floors or inter-flat partitions was consistent with the construction systems in place

Compromising building regulations and user expectations in the design of high-rise domestic kitchens

Purpose ??? The purpose of this paper is to discuss the significance and relevance of social and habitual behaviours of home occupants to the building design process. It argues that introducing quantitative measures such as daylight level alone may not result in a ???healthy and functional??? kitchen without appreciating or factoring-in the impacts of the social roles and user expectations of kitchens in high-rise and compact urban situations.\ud Design/methodology/approach ??? The study investigated three common types of apartment buildings in Hong Kong. Case studies suggested that it is crucial to include in a design process proper considerations of human behaviours byway of preferred approaches andmodes of living, space usage, and weightings of end-user responses that would influence architectural design in a direct and crucial way.\ud Findings ??? The study noted that daylight quality of a kitchen is perceived by most families to be not as important as building control officials and designers thought it would. Instead, it is found that social and cultural factors are more important parameters for users. The study observed that designers rely on physical and quantitative approaches such as daylight factor, window size and window-to-room area ratio to qualify a design solution and ignore the socio-cultural parameters.\ud Originality/value ??? The paper calls for designers and building control officials to incorporate the study of functionality and socio-cultural preferences of users groups in the building design process. The study envisages that an integrated design methodology would enhance the living environment

Materializing Memory, Mood, and Agency: The Emotional Geographies of the Modern Kitchen

Drawing upon narrative and visual ethnographic data collected from households in the UK, this essay explores the material and emotional geographies of the domestic kitchen. Acknowledging that emotions are dynamically related and co-constitutive of place, rather than presenting the kitchen as a simple backdrop against which domestic life is played out, the paper illustrates how decisions regarding the design and layout of the kitchen and the consumption of material artefacts are central to the negotiation and doing of relationships and accomplishment of domestic life. Based on fieldwork in northern England, the paper examines the affective potential of domestic space and its material culture, exploring how individuals are embodied in the fabric and layout of domestic space, and how memories may be materialized in their absence

Monitoring and modeling of household air quality related to use of different Cookfuels in Paraguay.

In Paraguay, 49% of the population depends on biomass (wood and charcoal) for cooking. Residential biomass burning is a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) in and around the household environment. In July 2016, cross-sectional household air pollution sampling was conducted in 80 households in rural Paraguay. Time-integrated samples (24 hours) of PM2.5 and continuous CO concentrations were measured in kitchens that used wood, charcoal, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), or electricity to cook. Qualitative and quantitative household-level variables were captured using questionnaires. The average PM2.5 concentration (μg/m3 ) was higher in kitchens that burned wood (741.7 ± 546.4) and charcoal (107.0 ± 68.6) than in kitchens where LPG (52.3 ± 18.9) or electricity (52.0 ± 14.8) was used. Likewise, the average CO concentration (ppm) was higher in kitchens that used wood (19.4 ± 12.6) and charcoal (7.6 ± 6.5) than in those that used LPG (0.5 ± 0.6) or electricity (0.4 ± 0.6). Multivariable linear regression was conducted to generate predictive models for indoor PM2.5 and CO concentrations (predicted R2  = 0.837 and 0.822, respectively). This study provides baseline indoor air quality data for Paraguay and presents a multivariate statistical approach that could be used in future research and intervention programs

Landscape, Kitchen, Table: Compressing the Food Axis to Serve a Food Desert

In the past, cities and their food system were spatially interwoven. However, rapid urbanization and the creation of industrialized agriculture have physically isolated and psychologically disconnected urban residents from the landscape that sustains them. Cities can no longer feed themselves and must rely on a global hinterland. Vital growing, preserving, and cooking knowledge has been lost, while negative health, economic, and environmental effects continue to develop from this separation. Low-income neighborhoods have significantly been affected where a lack of income and mobility pose barriers to adequate food access. Architects have addressed food issues individually, but have yet to take an integrative approach that meaningfully engages urban citizens with all processes of the food system. Urban planners have recently taken a holistic design approach to food issues through the development of the community food system concept. By applying this idea to an architectural program I have designed a Community Food Center for the Five Points Neighborhood in East Knoxville, TN. Spatially compressing and layering food activity spaces preserves the majority of the landscape on site for food production. The kitchen, dining room, market, and garden increase access to healthy food while serving as community gathering spaces, and the business incubator kitchens provide economic opportunities. The whole facility acts to educate and engage people in the growing, harvesting, preserving, cooking, sharing, and composting of food. Cities cannot sustain themselves by only providing spaces for consumption. Architects must challenge the accepted relationships between food system spaces and strive to reincorporate productive landscapes and spaces dedicated to transforming raw ingredients into a variety of architectural programs. Although the Five Points Community Food Center is site specific, the concept of integrating multiple food activities into a single architectural entity can be used as a tool for place making by expressing a local identity through food culture while improving the social and economic fabric

Ergonomic Kitchen Design in Malaysian Low-Cost Housing

The kitchen is where family members gather and household chores are primarily done. The purpose of the study is to highlight the issue of the comfort of Malaysian low-cost housing kitchens. It is the space commonly disregarded and has been a cause for many other issues relating to health, safety, and cleanliness. To propose a better design strategy, a basic understanding of the underlying principles and design development is pertinent to extracting the key elements that make up a good kitchen. It will serve as a basis for a revised guideline for plan layout, particularly in Malaysian low-cost housings. Keywords: Ergonomics; Kitchen Design; Low-cost; Minimal Space eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i20.342

Design for gender equality - the history of cohousing ideas and realities

Today’s development of alternative types of housing with communal spaces and shared facilities, called cohousing, has been influenced by utopian visions, practical proposals and implemented pro-jects far back in the past. This article traces the driving forces behind the various models of communitarian settlements, cooperative housekeeping, central kitchen buildings, collective housing and collaborative residential experiments while focusing specifically on the design and gender aspects of these models. An emphasis is given to feminist arguments for cohousing, as well as a discussion of the patriarchal resistance against various forms of housing and living based on equality and neighbourly cooperation. The article includes an analysis of the relief of house work burdens and of the possibility for men to be courageously domesticated through this type of housing. The main research methods comprise analyses of literature and the researchers’ own practical experiences of cohousing. The authors claim that cohousing in Scandinavian and some other countries has contributed to a more equal distribution of responsibilities for house work. However, the number of people living in cohousing is still too small to influence the gender segregation of labour markets. It is furthermore concluded that design factors, such as the quality of shared spaces, easy access to common rooms and indoor communication, are important for the smooth functioning of cohousing.Peer reviewe