The Kitchen Life World, Usage, Perspectives

Dwelling is more popular than ever. Whether in exhibits, scholarly studies, trend-conscious lifestyle magazines, or easily consumable coffee-table books, the complex factors informing humanity’s c- dition in its lived environment have become the object of diverse and increasingly intense investigations. The new book series Living Concepts intervenes at the juncture of aseptic coffee-table book and academic publication. Selected topics from the field of dwelling are presented with concision and scholarly rigor and in an appealing format. Along with supplying an informative foundation for a given thematic, Living Concepts int- duces current trends, scrutinizes received notions, and hopes to provide impetus for future developments – and all of this once or twice yearly in both German and English. Living Concepts is published by the ETH Wohnforum, an interdisciplinary research group housed in the Faculty of Archit- ture of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. By investigating the interplay and tensions between humans, society, and built space, the group mediates between theory and practice. With Living Concepts, the ETH Wohnforum aims to set a course informed by cultural studies, to document insights provided by the social sciences, and to provide a platform for a critical coming-- terms with the side effects of modernity. It is no accident that this first volume is dedicated to the kitchen.