Kitchen Island Cantilever

Inform studio is in the process of fabricating a custom kitchen in a building on 5th Ave. and 9th street for B-Space architecture . The design incorporates an island which wraps an existing steel column. As so often is the case a design idea can arise from a recognition of the inherent problems of the existing space. Here the architect is incorporating the existing column into the design .

To my mind cantilevers are always interesting for they appear to defy the natural law of gravity. This of course is not true.

The weight is distributed with help from structural materials which are often hidden from view. The pivot point could also be moved off center by simply adding more weight at one end. The visual effect when used in a particular context can make even a very large object appear to float.

The Kitchen we are building will have an assembled group of cabinets forming an island . We have buried two by two inch steel tube in the island to support the weight of the counter . A little more than half the total length of the island will be suspended. In addition to drawers and space for a microwave, the island will include a pantry which pulls out of the column cabinet. The pantry door panel has magnets buried into its mitred edge which will help insure a tight closure and keep the illusion of a solid wood column .

smith point bungalow journal #1

About a year and a half ago my wife and I and another couple bought a small house near

Smith Point Long Island. And while it is technically not a bungalow which is a Hindi word for a one story house It is of a small scale and I like to think of it as a place where one opens the door and flops down on the floor and is happy. It is strictly a weekend getaway, a place of solace from our lives in the city. The house stands one mile from the beach, part of a middle class and sometimes barely middle class neighborhood most of which does not seem to be aware of this beautiful location. The fact is the neighborhood could not be more unaware of its natural surroundings. Our neighbors our generally enamored of the rotting boats, trailers and cars strewn on their property perhaps with a fruit tree planted dead center on the lawn.
Like most homes in America these homes were built by developers who were not interested in design. They were interested in money. Small lot sizes and odd architectural vernacular is the norm. It's really a crime in America that the people who purchase homes have no say in building them.

The first improvement I made was to remove the Home Depot issue carriage lights from either side of the front door. I left the GE compact fluorescent projecting straight out like 2 pig tails. The second big improvement was to remove the standard issue lamppost. It's always so funny to me the way styles of the past are handed down.

My wife and I had many thoughts about what we wanted this house to become but for the first year and a half all we did was drink glasses of red wine, and think about it. If we were rich we would probably just tear the house down and build something. Since we are not rich we are forced to respond to the existing circumstance. This can be a challenge and inspiring. It's less ego centric since one has to respond to what someone else has given you. One thing cool is you don't have to think about inspiration. The existing elements call out to you.

The house was built in the 1950's Id say and is extremely unremarkable. It is more or less a box. That is the good part. The bad part is that it is not a perfect box. The house

has been added to in the back and once was a two family . This history is visible as soon as one one steps into the house. The interior layout is haphazard . That said it is is generally open and clean. So my approach to the inside and the outside of this property is the same. Begin to strip it down to something simpler. Inside we started by simply trying to open the space a bit and install a new kitchen. The space downstairs is interrupted by a column which contains a chimney. While it would be great to remove it it would be a big job and also require changing the heating system from a boiler system to something else most likely electric. The first thought I had was to open the downstairs to become as large as possible. The first floor consists of a kitchen a living room a laundry room and a bathroom. I judged the bathroom OK for now and the laundry room a great thing to have. It would have been possible to demolish both and come up with a new floor plan but this seemed like too much for our budget and what the house is really worth. The property only cost $220,000 and It's only a weekend place so we don't want to put too much into it. Anyone doing work on their home knows that costs add up quickly even if you are doing most of the work yourself.
So now finally we have begun to do some things. Stay tuned for the renovation of a Smith Point Bungalow.