arch. Antonio Citterio
“While organising a kitchen is basically a question of common sense, the best design project is invisible to the eye, yet tangible in its intelligence with every gesture, every time we cook, at whatever level, whether humble or sublime.”
Arclinea Collection Book
“This book is a story about kitchens.”
In our work we have always paid attention to the characteristic work processes and flows in the kitchen.
Antonio Citterio
“To meet these different requirements we have developed more flexible product systems, with the concept of Closet (...): a closed space with a series of doors that disappear as they open, to house dedicated work zones. This offers the possibility of a very (...) hidden kitchen, where function, equipment and gourmet knowhow, so to say, exists but is kept in a limited area, out of sight when not in use.”
arch. Antonio Citterio
Living everyday.
Certain traditions see the space dedicated to food preparation reserved for the person making the meals, which helps concentration and keeps the best recipes secret. Arclinea had the innovative idea of opening this magical place up for maximum conviviality and its Convivium project in 2002 led to a logical design conclusion. A big wooden table physically extends the functional island and as a true furnishing element its creates a pleasing contrast with the work zone and brings back fond memories of kitchens from yesteryear. When the Closet system is then added to hide technical zone, food storage and equipment, this everyday living space feels lighter and becomes the perfect room for entertaining family and guests.
Exclusive Elements
Each Arclinea kitchen is the result of careful design in line with the Collection: a unique and distinctive world of products that changes over time without ever getting old. Each new product is conceived to become a part of the whole. The Arclinea Collection is a design template, a set of transversal elements linked by a fil rouge, an inimitable unicum of solutions, made to meet the requirements of concrete, daily, creative and shared use. Arclinea intends the kitchen to increasingly use the systems belonging to other rooms and reach out to new cultures, uses of space, utilisations. It is expected to know how to integrate new functions and meet the challenges of technology. Each project, therefore, must meet different criteria, while persisting in complying with ergonomic rules as well as with the needs dictated by safety and sustainability. Attention to detail, to materials, to style, dialogues with research and innovation, leading to surprising results.
Arclinea At Home: Carlotta and Marco Brambilla
Carlotta Fortuna and Marco Brambilla, both architects, have followed different yet complementary paths: broadening her studies to include the visual arts, she now works in textile design, while he is partner in an important firm of architects. We went to visit them in their apartment in Milan, on the top floor of a building from the sixties.
“We kept the original design of this home but we are forever changing its layout and this has turned into a game.” Convivium kitchen, designed by Antonio Citterio for Arclinea in 2002, becomes a laboratory for ideas. “It is a space for sharing and we chose it entirely in steel because we like how it dialogues with the other materials in our home: from the poured floor to the wooden ceilings, via the glass of the coffee table and windows. It is an eco-friendly, resistant material with a modern look.”