Redefining the concept of ‘kitchen’
2016-01-28
In an unassuming metal building off Avenue B at Johnson Space Center, a remarkable collaboration between two countries took place. Students from Rice University participated in a co-creation workshop with Sweden’s Chalmers University, with guidance from NASA researchers, to focus on next-generation kitchens.
Video conferencing and social media tools allow students and researchers to work together on the concept of “kitchen” as it applies to both space and terrestrial applications. Larry Toups, visiting NASA researcher and adjunct professor at Chalmers University, is leading the project.
Toups is interested in the parallels between long-duration space missions and the homes of the future. On Mars it will be impossible to pop out to the grocery store for fresh produce. In America, nearly 30 percent of trash is composed of food waste. In both cases, the goal is to explore the concept of kitchen to increase efficiency and eliminate waste.
During the workshop, Toups encouraged participants to think beyond a set of standard appliances and utilities. For example, one group focused on localized farming as an input to kitchens and how that process could be reimagined. Another group from Rice designed and built a device called Compost Haste to capture and separate food waste that would normally go through a garbage disposal to a treatment plant. In May, those students will travel to Sweden to install it into one of the kitchens in the HSB Living Lab at Chalmers University. Meanwhile, a student design group at Chalmers is building a machine to generate biogas from the organic material captured by the Compost Haste device.
Toups is fascinated by the different viewpoints the younger generation brings to the project, highlighting an example from the previous laundry co-creation workshop. The group suggested providing a collective wardrobe in the laundry area. For a small investment, students would share and check out infrequently used clothes, thereby reducing the amount of individual clothes they needed to buy and store. Their main clothing is reduced to a small volume, and they only use things when they need them. It’s a major shift in thinking — one made possible with a fresh perspective.
Toups didn’t choose Chalmers at random. Chalmers University is building a unique four-story student housing project, the HSB Living Lab, for 40 to 50 students. Each floor has a different interior layout, and the building is modular and reconfigurable. The HSB Living Lab will be used as a platform to test sustainable technologies and concepts and evaluate the residents’ behavior. Because it’s a testing laboratory, the entire building is outfitted with monitors and sensors to record their activities over the long term and as living conditions change. Toups is hopeful that even if the students living there aren’t initially interested in sustainability, with emphasis on education and feedback from the building, they might change their behavior.
The next-generation kitchen workshop is the second in a series intended to focus on activities related to the home environment (both in space and on Earth). Two upcoming workshops will focus on storage and hygiene.
Michelle Fraser-Page
NASA Johnson Space Center
Video conferencing and social media tools allow students and researchers to work together on the concept of “kitchen” as it applies to both space and terrestrial applications. Larry Toups, visiting NASA researcher and adjunct professor at Chalmers University, is leading the project.
Toups is interested in the parallels between long-duration space missions and the homes of the future. On Mars it will be impossible to pop out to the grocery store for fresh produce. In America, nearly 30 percent of trash is composed of food waste. In both cases, the goal is to explore the concept of kitchen to increase efficiency and eliminate waste.
During the workshop, Toups encouraged participants to think beyond a set of standard appliances and utilities. For example, one group focused on localized farming as an input to kitchens and how that process could be reimagined. Another group from Rice designed and built a device called Compost Haste to capture and separate food waste that would normally go through a garbage disposal to a treatment plant. In May, those students will travel to Sweden to install it into one of the kitchens in the HSB Living Lab at Chalmers University. Meanwhile, a student design group at Chalmers is building a machine to generate biogas from the organic material captured by the Compost Haste device.
Toups is fascinated by the different viewpoints the younger generation brings to the project, highlighting an example from the previous laundry co-creation workshop. The group suggested providing a collective wardrobe in the laundry area. For a small investment, students would share and check out infrequently used clothes, thereby reducing the amount of individual clothes they needed to buy and store. Their main clothing is reduced to a small volume, and they only use things when they need them. It’s a major shift in thinking — one made possible with a fresh perspective.
Toups didn’t choose Chalmers at random. Chalmers University is building a unique four-story student housing project, the HSB Living Lab, for 40 to 50 students. Each floor has a different interior layout, and the building is modular and reconfigurable. The HSB Living Lab will be used as a platform to test sustainable technologies and concepts and evaluate the residents’ behavior. Because it’s a testing laboratory, the entire building is outfitted with monitors and sensors to record their activities over the long term and as living conditions change. Toups is hopeful that even if the students living there aren’t initially interested in sustainability, with emphasis on education and feedback from the building, they might change their behavior.
The next-generation kitchen workshop is the second in a series intended to focus on activities related to the home environment (both in space and on Earth). Two upcoming workshops will focus on storage and hygiene.
Michelle Fraser-Page
NASA Johnson Space Center
HSB Living Lab Exterior. Image Credit: Tengbom Architects
HSB Living Lab - Kitchen Concept. Image Credit: Tengbom Architects
HSB Living Lab - Laundry Concept. Image Credit: Tengbom Architects