Preview - What the Client Forgot to Ask For

Every project eventually reveals a thing the client didn't know they wanted. In this case, it was the kitchen. The clients — two lawyers with a combined work schedule that left almost no time for cooking — had asked for a minimal kitchen, as small as possible. They got a kitchen that became the centre of the apartment.

It happened because we opened it entirely to the living room. This was not my suggestion — the structural engineer raised it as a possibility during a site meeting and I said yes before the clients could object. The result is a space where cooking is social, where the island becomes a bar, where the room breathes. They cook every evening now. One of them told me she had not cooked regularly since university.

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