- Heat, material, and technique are three fundamental elements of the culinary experience, each playing a crucial role in shaping flavor. In a city that spans both subterranean depths and towering heights, temperature variations influence cooking methods, enabling diverse techniques with minimal fire usage. Conventionally, heat rises while cold air sinks, creating a natural movement that results in warmer spaces above and cooler spaces below.
Within this city, culinary spaces are meticulously crafted, where different materials contribute unique qualities to the cooking process. Wood, with its warm and organic nature, imparts a distinct smoky flavor as it chars. Ceramic, known for its ability to withstand high temperatures. Copper, an exceptional conductor, ensures seamless heat distribution for precise cooking.
The interplay of these elements—heat, material, and technique—creates a dynamic culinary landscape, where the very essence of food is shaped by its environment.
- The section illustrates how heat and cold are distributed throughout the space, shaping the cooking process. Wood, copper, and ceramic each play a distinct role in food preparation. Wood, a material that evolves with age, deforms as it chars, imparting a smoky flavor while providing the ideal conditions for low-temperature cooking. In contrast, ceramic remains unchanged over time and is well-suited for high-temperature cooking. Its shaft-like structure allows for frying, while copper sheet panels trap heat, efficiently transferring it through copper pipes to different areas. Meanwhile, the underground spaces, naturally cool, serve as preservation chambers, allowing food to be stored over extended periods. Together, these elements create a culinary environment where traditional techniques and material properties shape both the process and the experience of cooking.
The varying thickness of materials influences different cooking methods and heat retention, while vents within the structures ensure proper airflow and ventilation. The ETFE tunnels connecting different spaces provide insulation, allowing movement between areas without exposure to extreme heat. Scattered throughout the site, walls create communal spaces where people can gather, share meals, and engage in the cooking process. With these materials, the community gets to enjoy the process as it is a slow and immersive cooking experience, one that requires patience and heart to cook. The diagram below illustrates the aging process of the structure over time, heat deforms and alters materials, causing the space to evolve and transform continuously. This dynamic interaction between heat, materiality, and time reinforces the ever-changing nature of the environment.
