Gentle Kitchen Renovations: AI-driven tool for sustainable upcycling in multi-unit rentals

Research Project, 2024 – 2027

During the last century, the kitchen underwent significant changes as the new societal ideals aimed to rationalize the housewife’s workplace in the emerging welfare state. In the mid-1900s, the Home Research Institute (Hemmets forskningsinstitut) extensively studied the housewife’s work, analyzing her movements and energy consumption to design kitchens in the spirit of functionalism. The materials were robust, with wooden countertops and wall cabinets, stainless steel sinks, and glazed tiles on the walls. Surfaces were smooth, easy to wipe clean, reflecting a concern for both architectural details and the housewife´s work. The kitchen changes were not just about rationalization but also aimed at elevating the status of the seemingly invisible household work (Landin, 2013).Today, HFI´s solid kitchen research still forms the basis for how kitchens are planned and constructed. However, what has changed is who uses the kitchen and how long it is used before being replaced. The housewife is now a memory in most households as contemporary ideals and norms prevail. Kitchens have become central spaces in many homes, fostering social interaction with friends and family. In recent years, kitchens have undergone significant transformations. Interior magazines showcase how kitchens from the 90s are replaced by custom-built ones in a “time-typical style”, or how original 1940s kitchens are torn out to make way for a new one from IKEA. Walls are opened up or torn down to create space and, ideally, a connection between the kitchen and the living room. The driving force seems to be the desire to imprint one´s own character on the home, with the heart of the home being renewed.The way kitchens’ expiration dates are perceived has profound consequences, environmentally, economically, and culturally. Discarding a well-functioning product for an equivalent new one results in significant resource wastage. Renovating a rental property always incurs some cost for the tenant and can become a substantial financial burden. Moreover, there´s a risk of losing cultural-historical values when a 1950s kitchen is replaced by a newly produced one. The field of circularity and reuse in construction has gained traction. Architectural firms on LinkedIn are seeking reused steel beams, and office building interiors are refreshed instead of being replaced. Leftover materials from demolitions end up in material libraries to be used elsewhere, and the demand for reused materials is growing. However, circularity in the construction sector often requires something to be demolished for something else to be built sustainably. Yet, the most sustainable building is the one already built, and the most sustainable kitchen is, therefore, the one that already exists (Källa). This thesis is what we want to focus on, exploring, through the research project, Gentle Kitchen Renovations: AI-driven tool for sustainable upcycling in multi-unit rentals, how the kitchen´s lifespan can be extended through careful upcycling.Shifting focus and recognizing 90s kitchens as the valuable resources they are would result in fewer kitchens ending up in landfills. The status of existing kitchens would rise, along with the property owner´s willingness to preserve and manage the kitchens already present in their rental properties. This would reduce the environmental impact and allow culturally significant environments to persist. Additionally, significant economic savings could be achieved for both the property owner and the tenant. What was once seen as a standard upgrade, discarding functional kitchens and appliances for something new and more modern, would instead be viewed as the wasteful practice it is.In collaboration with one of the largest public housing providers, Familjebostäder, and with the assistance of AI, the project explores the possibility of conducting extensive inventories of existing kitchen stocks, along with assessments of the kitchens´ restoration or renovation needs. By enhan