Cucinare e consumare: la cucina-casa

Once Camilleri wrote in “The shape of the water”: «[…] L’acqua non ha una forma propria, ed è come tutti gli altri liquidi, che assumono questa in ragione del contenitore che li circonda, che li contiene […]». Indeed, in his novel of 1994, he refers to the truth and how it can take any kind of shape. Thus, the context in which it takes place is important to define its appearance and dimension. Defining the environment, the circumstances of an event could be useful in order to define the truth close to the reality. Shouldn’t Architecture follow the same principles? Shouldn’t it follow the shape of its context, as Camilleri’s water? Shouldn’t it know how to fit in all the shapes of space? For years, we have been taught that the key-point in Architecture is the place, this is why we talk about “genius loci”, a very difficult and unfamiliar concept that is also really hard to define in the constructed. However, in these years it is better to talk about “genius coci”, a neologism coined by our society, where everything is determined by some interpretations given by the media: the fireside in the house is quite a “part of everything”. The kitchen thus represents the whole house, a place of socialisation and, last but not least, it also represents itself: all in one. According to Frank Lloyd Wright, the heart of the house was composed by the fireplace surrounded by all the other rooms. I think that this topic can’t be considered in this way anymore. Today the kitchen is a social space that includes personal dynamics and familiar or more formal meetings; it is the place where everything happens, where everything takes shape. The kitchen has been moved from the underground of the house (often outside the habitation) to the centre of the house itself. It actually becomes “The House”, often represented by self-styled/so called chefs who cook and play with flavours and traditions. Cooking could be actually a project but, before that, the kitchen has to be the representation of the individual and its interaction with the collective. It has to be a connection between inside and outside, like grannies’ cosy living room. Therefore, the kitchen becomes the real representation of the place straddling the private house and the public one, as a continuous dialogue with the outside. This is the place where that “genius loci” before mentioned really exists.