Food, Architecture and Experience Design

Abstract

The paper explores how performative elements
of an architectural-food based approach can be
used to generate new experience-related spaces
in the future city, putting a focus on the creation
of social bonds and citizen relations by
means of temporary public meal events and
small-scale food activities.
With the overall subject of designing the future
experience cities, our initiate goal have therefore
been to try to point out some of the parameters
used in the interplay between food and
architecture to create new food-related experiences
and to examine the subject of the meal
and food as an experience-related-system
possibly initiating social relations. The purpose
of this approach has been potentially to contribute
to illuminate a wide range of needs and
undiscovered possibilities within the interrelated
field of design, architecture and food; ranging
from interior functions, building design, and
cityscapes to industrial design and performative
activities of the city.
Reconsidering the public spaces of the city from
the perspective of an architectural-food based
approach implicit demands for an understanding
of the inherited relations between the fields
of respectively architectural design and culinary
arts. As such the first part of the paper outlines
considerations on contemporary food experiences
based on two restaurant experiences and a
historical study investigating the utilization of
architecture and design relative to creating
spectacular meal experiences, having a higher
purpose of developing social relations and supporting
cultural development.
Relative hereto, second part of the paper proposes
to utilize the performative and sensuous
elements of cooking in an architectural-food
based approach as means to generate temporary
food domains in the city, inviting for sensuous
and explorative meal experiences further serving
a cultural and social encouragement
among citizens. Taking our point of departure in
two specific cases developed at the Institute of
Architecture and Design at Aalborg University,
we will argue that small-scale urban experiments
are needed. With the two cases we further
seek to illustrate how chefs in collaboration
with architectural designers methodically engage
in the work of experience design within a
new sphere of total-design, and how a combination
of performative experiences, food, plate,
and room possibly can initiate social relations in
public spaces.