Italian kitchen brand Snaidero presents Board, designed by Pietro Arosio

Simplicity, Sociality, Freedom: these are the features defining Board, Snaidero's latest project developed in collaboration with architect Pietro Arosio.

The project stems from the profound reflection imposed on the company by the radical changes in living needs and the difficult global economic trend: as a result, the design research began to focus on more accessible solutions that are easier to design, customise, purchase and inhabit. Though seemingly straightforward, this concept required a huge effort within the company in order to shift the focus towards services and quality.

Board specifically aims to offer an industrial solution to the evolution in the contemporary housing industry, which tends to increasingly propose and build compact environments, shared spaces with freely configured interiors that are bright and open, without any functional constraints and geared towards new levels of environmental quality. Snaidero's solution yet again reflects a tangible design concept featuring excellent aesthetic and functional solutions, yet tailored to limited space requirements that call for flexible and highly customisable industrial solutions.

The project started by reconsidering the kitchen's operating area, so as to fully enhance its functionality and comfort, while creating a lighter aesthetic and structural impact through a sober yet dynamic design blending into the surrounding environment. This translated into the design of an entirely suspended operating unit, thanks to a self-supporting structure allowing it to unfold from the storage area, so that the user can enjoy complete freedom of movement when preparing and cooking dishes while using two operating zones capable of working in parallel. The latter aspect aims to satisfy a growing tendency - especially among the younger generations - whereby food and its preparation have come to embody a marked social dimension by offering an opportunity for socialising and experimenting. The operating unit - available in two different sizes, 90 cm and 120 cm - is fully equipped for food preparation, cooking and washing activities. The operating block is an ideal solution for studio flats or bachelor apartments: it combines the cooking and washing zones with a wooden food preparation/snack counter that can be used for preparing small snacks or eating breakfast.

To guarantee the utmost protection, different solutions have been engineered for the burners, and for the separation between the washing area and the cooking area with a glass partition.

The unit's amazingly light structure is the result of an innovative anchoring system linking the structure to the carcass of the cabinets, and was patented by the company. A further demonstration of Snaidero's strong awareness to aesthetic research coupled with technological research, geared towards solutions that revolutionise classic housing design standards while offering new solutions to new living needs.

Illumination plays a very important role in the project, where it has a general service function besides creating atmosphere and charm. Indeed, the end part of the operating unit rests on a luminous panel that radiates a warm, uniform light capable of efficiently illuminating the operating zone during food preparation, while in the later stages it can be modulated to create a more relaxed and subdued atmosphere.

The area designed for storage purposes, from which the operating unit unfolds, rests on a highly industrialised platform enabling it to offer the broadest design flexibility in terms of both finishes and colours (over 100 available options) and design modularity, where the latter refers to the adaptability of each space - whether large or small - and the possibility of arranging it as desired. Lastly, the variety of available ergonomic solutions are capable of satisfying people who desire pure forms without handle, or people who prefer the practicality of the handle.

The Board project, therefore, aims to strike the best possible balance between aesthetically pure lines and comfort, and reflects an evolution in the designer's design approach that is totally in tune with the current era: namely, design applied to the product, but also to the service, process and visual communication. Rather than proposing a new kitchen model, Snaidero's intention with the Board project is to offer a new domestic design solution for optimally enhancing the kitchen as the merging point of all living functions, a combined operating and convivial area; the kitchen viewed as a space for living, as a shell and showcase: a compact yet charming, functional personal refuge that turns into a socialising space when required.

All this summed up by a great aesthetic, emotional and functional simplicity, capable of restoring the domestic environment to its core values and, consequently, launching it into the future as a highly avant-garde industrial project.

Source: Snaidero

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