Cool or Complicated?
Future designs – what does your dream (eco) kitchen look like?
1. Ekokook
French product design firm Faltazi has proposed a conceptual system where water is recycled and waste is broken down by worms inside the kitchen.
Named the Ekokook, it incorporates storage containers for packaging, a reservoir under the sink for collecting water to be reused, and a container where earthworms break down organic waste.
Since most household waste is produced in the kitchen, the aim of Ekokook is to process waste as close as possible to the point where it’s produced.
For a more thorough review, check out dezeen magazine.
2. The Microbial Home
Although the Microbial Home by Dutch firm Philips Design is more than just a kitchen, many of its functions revolve around or involve food (production, storage, recycling, waste, etc.).
The project includes various aspects like a bio digester island and larder in the kitchen, urban beehive, and bio-light (powered by bacteria living on organic waste material).
The larder is a dining table that doubles as a food storage system and evaporative cooler – a kind of natural refrigerator. The table’s centre comprises inset terracotta boxes, whose temperature is regulated by the water pipes from the methane bio-digester.
For more photos and explanation, check out Yanko Design.
3. Malthus
This design by Swiss company Conceptual Devices isn’t exactly a kitchen, either, but as an appliance it would form an important component of a sustainable eco-kitchen.
Malthus is an aquaponic unit designed to grow one meal a day: a portion of fish and a side salad. (Aquaponics is a farming technique that combines fish and vegetable cultivation.)
This appliance consists of a fish tank that holds 400 litres of water, supporting more than 2kg of fish. The fish provide rich fertilizer for the plants and in return, the plants clean the water from the tank. The water is pumped through three cultivated grow beds which filter the water for the fish. The fish and the plants co-exist in a symbiotic relationship.
