Beyond the wide variety of landscape, environmental, economic, social, and cultural particularities that distinguish each region of Latin America, the renovation of interior spaces that make up domestic life generally focuses on achieving the greatest possible integration of environments along with providing flexibility, spaciousness, and better conditions for ventilation and natural lighting. Seeking to revalue unused spaces and/or give them a second life, renovations aim to transform the ways of living through strategies capable of involving the restoration of materials, the preservation of structures, the maintenance of installations, and more.
Adopting various methodologies of organization and distribution, contemporary apartment projects with integrated kitchen layouts or where the kitchen is the center of attention focus on achieving harmonious coexistence and interaction with other social spaces in the homes. By blurring the boundaries between interior and exterior, establishing movable partitions, or using separating furniture, architecture professionals deploy their conception of living according to the needs of the inhabitants, taking into account an aesthetic that balances materials, colors, furniture, infrastructure, textures, scales, among other factors.
Considering that kitchens are influenced by cultures, customs, and traditions from various parts of the world, their role as a hub for tasks and a meeting place in the domestic space reflects the essence of those who inhabit them. In Argentina, Brazil, and Ecuador, very diverse culinary practices have developed, likely due to the availability of resources, raw materials, and technologies, among other factors. Achieving spatial continuity and efficiency for the well-being and comfort of people through interior renovation represents an opportunity to improve everyone’s quality of life.
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Open Kitchens: Elements that Enhance Interaction and Flexibility
Based on 25 contemporary apartment renovations, we propose to focus on the interior design of kitchens, discovering the strategies and tools that architecture professionals in Latin America use to integrate these environments with the rest of the house.
How to Design an Integrated Kitchen in Small Spaces?
While there are multiple ways to integrate kitchens with living rooms and dining areas, the challenge of having limited spaces, where every square meter must be maximized to accommodate more than one function at a time, requires knowing which materials, furniture systems, dimensions, and even future installations the spaces will need. In terms of apartment renovations, the presence of structural and/or building pre-existences can sometimes restrict or limit the projected interventions. However, strategies designed to achieve greater fluidity in circulation, increased lighting, spaciousness, and flexibility should not be affected. In kitchens, a linear layout, whether integrated or not into the apartment’s furniture, helps maximize interiors while meeting the needs of its inhabitants.
José Mármol Refurbishment / Micaela Racca
BE Apartment / MZNO
33 Apartment / Soek Arquitetura
Twins Apartment / Paralelo 30 Arquitetura
Apartamento Andradas / OCRE arquitectura
JS Apartment / EB Arquitetos
Which Enclosures Contribute to the Design of Integrated Kitchens?
Contemporary domestic life undergoes immense transformations daily due to technological, generational, climatic, and other variables. Designing everyday spaces with the present in mind while considering a future vision helps interpret societal demands by understanding the concept of opening and closing spaces according to the use and need of each moment. While the application of movable closures—sliding, folding, swinging, pivoting, stacking, among others—allows for the isolation of noises and smells in kitchen spaces, it also acts as an integrator of environments, providing a complete visual and allowing for the development of complementary activities simultaneously. In apartment interior renovations, selecting suitable materials that interact with the elements of the existing building often forms part of the design definition and premise. Metal, wood, or translucent structures help integrate kitchen spaces by combining colors, textures, and patterns.
Itamarati 91 / Adriana Bersou
Abboud Apartment / FGMF
Flamengo Apartment / Nop Arquitetura
DN Apartament / BC Arquitetos
The Baronesa Apartment / Lucia Manzano Arquitetura + Paisagismo
Lausanne Apartment / Mana arquitetura + Cru Estudio de Criação
Aurora Apartment / CoDA Arquitetura
How to Optimize the Use of Kitchen Islands and Countertops?
When designing an integrated kitchen, the distribution of cabinets, storage spaces, lighting fixtures, or kitchen utensils plays an important role that directly influences the experience of its users. Providing dynamism and optimization to the interiors, apartment renovations that combine their islands with breakfast bars, kitchen countertops, appliances, or other culinary elements can free up space for other activities or for moving around and accessing other areas. By adopting suitable dimensions or using different levels, materials, or movement systems, kitchen islands and countertops can improve workflow efficiency by allowing greater accessibility to all spaces.
Copan D Apartment / Estúdio BRA Arquitetura
Caramelo Apartment / CoDA Arquitetura
Bananeira Apartment / Angá Arquitetura + Estúdio Pedro Luna
Operations Within Apartments / Natura Futura Arquitectura
Barão de Tatuí penthouse / Pianca Arquitetura + Sabiá Arquitetos
RR Apartment / Nati Minas & Studio + Flipê Arquitetura
EC Apartment / DT Estúdio
Brigadeiro Apartament / Nommo Arquitetos
Apartment 02 / Hugo Oliveira Arquitetura
Cervantes Building / Grizzo Studio
Taquinho Apartment / Lez Arquitetura
415N Apartment / CoDA
This article is part of an ArchDaily series that explores features of interior architecture, from our own database of projects. Every month, we will highlight how architects and designers are utilizing new elements, new characteristics and new signatures in interior spaces around the world. As always, at ArchDaily, we highly appreciate the input of our readers. If you think we should mention specific ideas, please submit your suggestions.
This article is part of the ArchDaily Topics: Refurbishment, proudly presented by Sto.
Extending the lifespan of buildings reduces cost and environmental impact, avoiding demolition or more substantial interventions in the future. Sto’s products for facades, facade refurbishment, crack repair, waterproofing, and concrete restoration systems are used on heritage buildings, adaptive reuse projects, renovations and maintenance of new buildings all over the world. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and architecture projects. We invite you to learn more about our ArchDaily Topics. And, as always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.