Abstract
This paper reviews the article written by two professionals in the sphere of architecture who represent Istanbul Technical University. In their work, Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu (155) focus on the peculiarities of kitchen interior design. The authors want to reveal how basic design rules and user requirements can be aligned to enhance the success of the performance-based design. This topic is selected because the literature review reveals that the professionals who developed associated studies, failed to consider this very aspect of design. In addition to that, a kitchen is selected for this experiment because it is a room people enter more than 80 times a day and a place where they conduct constantly repeating actions. The study developed by Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu (156) is qualitative. It is based on a literature review and following the classification of the received data.
The study is very important for practice because it provides a kind of a guideline that can be used by professionals when they deal with those projects that presuppose the necessity to develop kitchen interior design, meeting particular user’s requirements (both physical and psycho-social). To reveal this information, the authors not only analyzed more than 80 authoritative sources but also extracted 130 design rules from them. Further, professionals also aligned these rules with 12 major user requirements. In this way, Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu (156) managed to conclude that kitchen design success could be enhanced significantly if professionals use a systematic classification of rules and requirements. The design project should be developed in three steps. The scope of work should be identified so that a range of purposes can be developed and prioritized. Finally, the way of implementation should be discussed in detail.
Kitchen Interior Design: Article Analysis
Deniz Yazıcıoğlu and Alaattin Kanoğlu are professionals in the sphere of architecture who cooperated to prepare a high-quality article regarding interior design. Both authors represent Turkey, as they come from Taşkışla, Istanbul. Yazıcıoğlu has a doctoral degree and works in the Interior Architecture Department at Istanbul Technical University. His occupation proves that the professional has knowledge and skills needed for the development of their paper that reveals critical for practice information. Kanoğlu, in his turn, is a professor at the Architecture Department of the same university. In this way, both professionals have a great opportunity to cooperate while working, which makes it easier for them to focus on mutual research. Combining their knowledge and experience in the field of architecture, Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu develop a way of enhancing the success of kitchen interior design.
They consider that a systematic approach provides the best opportunity for professionals to develop a design that is based not only on the design rules but also on people’s preferences. Revealing the relational links between these objectives, the authors manage to provide designers who practice with information that can be used to create a successful performance-based design that appeals to the users and is aligned with the associated rules. This kind of contribution is critical because it allows us to overcome an existing knowledge gap, as the literature review reveals that previously conducted studies failed to consider the possibility to unite two design approaches that are mainly focused only on one aspect: rules or user requirements. In particular, attention is paid to the kitchen design because it is believed to be an essential part of almost any project, regardless of its peculiar features.
Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu start their research with the description of its necessity. Professionals reveal that current knowledge in the sphere does not provide enough information on the use of the basic design rules and the necessity to align them with the user’s requirements. They also state that attention should be paid to kitchen interior design, in particular, because people spend much time in this room every day and it is significant for them to ensure that the way it is designed is convenient and safe. The authors conduct a literature review to reveal the way their colleagues treat kitchen interior design and the possibility to enhance its performance. Based on the obtained information, they manage to develop the purpose of their research study, which is “establishment of a systematic classification in which a relational link between the design rules proposed for increasing the performance of kitchen design with user requirements in a kitchen is created” (Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu 156).
In the framework of their work, the authors consider the user’s requirements as an object of the highest priority. As a result, they conduct a qualitative study based on a literature survey to reveal the required information. A list of user requirements and a list of design rules are developed and analyzed. With the help of a systematic classification, they are functionalized at the end of the paper. All in all, professionals manage to identify 130 rules for kitchen interior design and reveal with which spatial requirements (out of 12) they are associated. As a result, a simple guiding tool for designers is created by (Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu 163). It can be used in practice to enhance the success of the developed design and ensure that it meets the user’s needs.
Due to the article prepared by Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu, I managed to enhance my knowledge in the sphere of interior design (155). In particular, I received an opportunity to find out what that the major issue that exists within this practice is the necessity to align a set of the basic design rules with the user’s wishes and requirements. Moreover, the authors provided information on how to meet this aim, which I consider to be their major contribution to the sphere. Yazıcıoğlu and Kanoğlu provided me with an opportunity to understand what ways of enhancement the kitchen performance design exist currently and why they are not good enough for practice (156). Thorough explanations developed by the authors, it became easier for me to understand why design rules are to be always followed. A set of data about user requirements also turned out to be rather beneficial for me.
Familiarizing myself with it, I managed to find out that users have both physical and psycho-social demands considering their kitchen design. Previously, I failed to recognize the complicity of these needs and believed them to be simply associated with people’s search for convenience. In addition to that, the authors provided a set of three steps that are to be followed when enhancing the kitchen design success (project scope, aim, and implementation peculiarities) and can be used in my practice or the practice of other professionals. Even though the discussed article is rather informative and useful, it is possible to improve it. For instance, the authors may pay more attention to the use of the provided classification so that the paper will be based not only on theoretical information. In addition to that, it will be interesting to compare the use of the systematic approach for kitchen interior design and the design of another room because a set of rules is likely to alter significantly while user requirements are expected to remain similar.
Work Cited
Yazıcıoğlu, Deniz, and Alaattin Kanoğlu. “A Systematic Approach for Increasing the Success of Kitchen Interior Design within the Context of Spatial User Requirements.” Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, vol. 3, no. 1, 2016, pp. 155-166.