Grete Lihotzky worked for the Municipal
Building Department in Frankfurt under the direction of Ernst May. The
department set out to standardise building elements and mechanise
construction along American lines, as propagated by Frederick Taylor and
Henry Ford. These attempts at rationalisation and efficiency applied
also to the design of flats and, notably, to the design of kitchens.
10,000 Frankfurt Kitchens (as they were known at the time) were
installed in Frankfurt flats. This was not the first fitted kitchen, nor
even the first Modernist fitted kitchen, but it was the first made in
quantity. It was undoubtedly the most successful and influential kitchen
of the period, and stood as a symbol of ‘scientific’ attempts to make
the domestic workspace more professional.
Like many designers aiming at efficiency in the home, Lihotzky would
have known Erna Meyer’s hugely popular manual, Der neue Haushalt (The
New Household) (Stuttgart, 1926). This in turn was based on the classic
American text, The New Housekeeping (Chicago, 1913) by Christine
Frederick. Both analysed the bodily movements and circulation patterns
of the housewife as she engaged in daily work in order to arrive at new
principles for household design and labour.
In the design of the Frankfurt Kitchen, Lihotzky studied the
positioning of each element in relation to others to minimise
unnecessary steps or movement. She also devised special features that
would save labour and provide physical comfort; a work table under a
light-giving window and adjacent to the sink, both at seat height;
storage chutes with handles and pouring spouts for dry foodstuffs, so
there was no need to open cupboards and jars, then spoon out the
contents; and a drop-down ironing board that did not have to be
dismantled and stored.
The principle of the compact kitchen owes much to the design of galleys
in ships and trains of the era. Its small size reflected a pursuit of
efficiency, the belief that eating in the kitchen was unhygienic, and
the desire to save space for the living spaces of the flat. Not only was
the idea of labour saving important to the layout of the kitchen but it
was central to its construction and cheap price. The cabinets had no
backs and as they were continuous they needed only one side wall. To
enable residents to buy a kitchen, there were special loans which could
be paid off with the monthly rent. |
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