An eco-kitchen concept from the
Faltazi Lab, which is actually amazing, stirs up new practices for the home, and loops in wonderfully with recent local design initiatives.
Industrial Designers Laurent Lebot and Victor Massip lead the Faltazi Lab, with a background in domestic appliances, they have moved to more expansive concept, integrating domestic functionality into a detailed and completely sensible evolution of the kitchen, called
Ekokook. There is much much more here to be discussed -which I must detail in future articles, but for now I'm interested in provoking some linkage to our own
Sustainable Habitats Challenge ('SHAC'), which completed its first run late last year, and is taking registrations for SHAC 11 now.
The
Ekokook project is curiously restrained, I say 'evolutionary' very intentionally, there is nothing especially mind-blowing or technologically advanced about it, just a refinement in procedure, packaging each facility carefully and efficiently for better productivity. Its key selling point for now -beautifully diagrammed of course- is the integration of three 'Micro-Plants' for immediate waste processing. Solid Waste, Liquid Waste and Organic Waste are 'treated' immediately (crushed, broken, minimised etc.) reducing waste output, and by association, the frequency of expensive waste collection services.
“
Ekokook is about implementing a global prospective research project for eco-friendly habitat in the real world: the Faltazi Lab. We are trying to answer the question of how to introduce ecological projects into the home. How to upgrade existing housing without advocating complete reconstruction. The obvious responses are those that use non-structural elements of living space (doors, windows, equipments…), which can be mass-produced industrially and are simple to install."
I'll produce a more detailed analysis of the project in the near future, for now check out the media release
here.
Images from www.ekokook.com
As these things tend to -and should, the contextual link that came immediately to mind is the
Sustainable Habitat Challenge, initiated last year as a collaborative (cross-institutional) competition, with aims to "make ideas and methods for low-energy, low-resource housing a reality for New Zealand."
The results of the 2009 Challenge can be viewed
online now, and are definitely worth investigation. I must say publication of these schemes has been fairly limited -or is that just me? So once again I'll make a commitment to finding out more from Tim Bishop and the SHAC initiative, and post much more from them soon.
Green Fo' Life:
www.ekokook.com
www.shac.org.nz