If you live in an apartment or condo, your kitchen is likely modeled off of a design pioneered by Austrian architect Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky in 1926. Her model kitchen, known as the Frankfurt Kitchen, was invented in response to rising urbanization and the emerging field of domestic science. Schütte-Lihotzky was inspired by the tight quarters of railroads and ships, and created the efficient, small galley kitchen we know today.
Each Frankfurt kitchen had labeled storage bins, easy-to-clean surfaces, built-in accessories like ironing boards and a
drawer for garbage, and a swiveling stool so housewives could achieve what Schütte-Lihotzky called “the rationalization of housework.” Designed with busy, independent women in mind, the model kitchen was adopted throughout Europe. Over 10,000 were produced between 1925 and 1930.
Yet Schütte-Lihotzky wasn’t just a kitchen pioneer. She was also an ardent Communist who became a member of the anti-Nazi resistance during World War II. She was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo, and barely escaped with her life after Vienna was liberated in 1945. As a Communist, she suffered a lack of commissions in Austria during the Cold War, but worked in China, Cuba, the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, and elsewhere.
Media Release/InterestingFacts
