Furniture & Interior design
The Kitchen Temple of Love
Objective: To create a space through the use of objects, light, texture, sound and smell that describes the user and the function of that space. This objective is reached by creating a language that connotes the cultural a identity of the user within the space.
Content: the space chosen for this project is the kitchen of a homosexual couple who live in an apartment in New York City. The kitchen Temple of love is made for this couple taking into account their specific cultural context in order to affirm that identity. The expression of this identity is achieved by forming an amalgamation of many different elements beginning with the function of the space, it's obvious utility in the home and it's significance to the user. For the couple, the kitchen and the time they spend in it is most important to their relationship. It is a place where they can be alone, unwind from their day and share an intimate meal. The kitchen is also chosen because of its great significance as a space which is used for the preparation and consumption of food. This importance can be illustrated and intensified by drawing parallels between the ritual of the Catholic mass and the daily meal.
The Catholic mass was developed to be synonymous to the every day meal in order to denote the relationship between physical and spiritual sustenance. In this way the kitchen, in a homosexual cultural context or any cultural context, not only serves it's utilitarian purpose but may also be a place in which one may affirm one's beliefs. This cultural perspective is expressed through the use of symbols and signs as are used in the Roman Catholic Church. These signs express identity while instructing and describing function. This is achieved by the use of assigned iconical imagery coupled with the relation and nature of objects, light, texture, sound and smell in the given space.
The symbolic significance of the kitchen is accentuated in "The Kitchen Temple of Love" by appropriating the linguistic format of the signs and symbols used by the Roman Catholic Church and imposing a semiotic language that is developed through images, iconical references and symbols derive from homosexual culture.
The kitchen is a social place, a place for sharing, conversing and interrelating. The kitchen is a meeting place. The kitchen is a space where one can express love for another through the ritual of the meal. For a couple, this right can be the most intimate and meaningful event of the day.
There are many different types of love, ideas of what love is and many ways to express love. There are diverse ways to make love, to share love, to show love and receive it. I'm proposing to create a space of loving that connotes an intimate expression of love through the everyday ritual of eating and the entire process that surrounds the meal. The kitchen, due to its function, has an innate capacity to evoke an expression of love, a love that is expressed through sharing. That is the expression of love achieved by people creating and enjoy together the fruits of their labor; benefiting from it and being nourished by it. In this way the kitchen is a place of love.
The temple is a place of worship. It is a space to worship a God, and ideology, and way of life. The temple is a space of giving and receiving, a place of sharing, expressing and confirming of one's beliefs. The temple is for spiritual nurturing; it is a place to express love, to give and receive love. Through this nurturing and sharing comes the confirmation of the self and belief.
I choose the homosexual culture from my masters project out of respect for that culture and to create respect for it. All homosexuals are individuals and that is my strongest reason for choosing their perspective as my cultural influence for this project. They are people whose beliefs and actions are part of many, if not all, cultures. Their way of life is as valid and valuable as any other. In this way "The Kitchen Temple of Love" is accessible to everyone. This place is to be a niche of culture and society offered up as an example of living that needs to be identified and taken for its virtues; seen as something that can be included in everyone's life as an enriching and refreshing perspective.
For: Private Client
