Prototype Kitchen Design, Jacksonville, Florida, USA
Commission: Bespoke built-in kitchen surfaces using surfboard technology
Client: Miguel Martinez, New Florida Developments
Budget: £100K GBP ($180K USD)
OCEAN D: Principle designer: Kevin A. Cespedes
Project Team: Masoud Moobabullah, Wade Stevens, Robert Elfer, Tom Verebes
Publications:
- Verebes, T., (2004). “Innovation and Practice – Reconstituting the Practice and Product of Architecture”.
- Architectural Review Australia. Digital Architecture, Issue no. 090. (Benjamin, A., Guest Ed. ). pp. 102-105.
This project owes it construction to the material processes to surfboard manufacturing. Inspired by the cohesive matrix by which differences in material are combined in surfboard design, the polyester fiberglass resin allows in this scheme degrees in hardness of surfaces according to specific needs. Its structural integrity and exceptional lightness is achieved by an embedded aluminium tubeframe matrix at critical load locations, and a core of plywood. The inherent low material cost, but moderate to high labour curve originally conceived as balanced trade-off for the client, may well be disproved as this project transfers technologies from adjacent design disciplines, and proposes a new commercial application using CAD/CAM techniques such as 5-axis milling and routing, and CAM bending machines for interior building construction. The house is located in a suburban residential area outside Jacksonville.
