09.20.08

Kitchen safety accent lighting

Posted in Design Tips, architecture at 2:20 pm by Administrator

“The goal of the project should be to make their lives better than they were before. As you acquire knowledge and design skills you’ll find ways to make sure your designs transcend the merely safe, or adequate to reach the level of wonderful.” (NKBA professional resource library, Residential Construction, 2006 p19)

Vitruvius, the roman architect who wrote around the time of Christ, called these design goals essential elements of architecture, Utilitas, Firmitas and Venustas, translated function, structure and delight.

Be sure that your project transcends the merely adequate. This can be accomplished by a simple element or by many elements or systems. Professional council is available at various levels to guide the desired social act. Is a residential project a social act? Yes, both in method and purpose. “It is the outcome of teamwork: and it is there to be made use of by groups of people, groups as small as the family or as large as the nation.” (History of Architecture, Kostof, 1995, p7)

For example, this residential kitchen island included accent lighting in the toe space that is connected to a photo-cell that turns on accent lights at night to create mood lighting and night light safety. This inexpensive feature transcended adequate design by including an element of safety and delight. It has become one of the homeowner’s personal and family favorite kitchen design ideas.

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