Concept Text

Concept – De Keukentafel

What?
De Keukentafel (‘The Kitchen Table’) is a bar and restaurant designed to change the way we approach social interactions in nightlife. Rather than collecting a group of friends and reserving a table for the night, De Keukentafel encourages its visitors to come alone and simply ‘schuif aan’ (just ‘join in’) at a table with a group of strangers. The main feature of the bar is thus one long table which curves around the space, leading into an open kitchen where the food is prepared but where visitors are welcome to enter to socialize with the chefs themselves. The aim is to allow guests to feel like they are simply at a friend’s home, free to help themselves to a glass of wine or a friendly chat.

Why?
I chose the idea of a kitchen specifically due to its familiarity – when we are meeting unfamiliar people and are forced to act out of our comfort zone, it can be comforting to be in a setting that is familiar and ‘homely’ to us. I feel that meeting and interacting with people is more important now than ever coming out of a year of lockdowns with severe restrictions impacting our social well-being. Surveys by the BBC and NY Times have shown that many people feel that their social skills have declined during the pandemic as a result of mostly digital interactions for months on end, and I would like to create a space that puts people out of their comfort zone. This idea was also informed and inspired by the project ‘Sharing Dinner’ by Marije Vogelzang. In particular, I admired her ability to transform the physical connection of having a shared tablecloth into an emotional connection, as well as her ability to create a space within a space which takes on a life of its own, with one very simple gesture.

How?
The bar is located in the basement of the Schiecentrale, with stairs leading down from the south end of the building. The main feature of the bar will be the kitchen table which twists around the space, as well as curved walls and vaults in the ceiling to amplify the sound. I chose the basement because of its simplicity and roughness, as well as the fact that it currently feels like a liminal space, which I would like to challenge in order to transform it into a cozy bar space, or make it ‘gezellig’ as we say in Dutch. The bar will also function as a café during the day, with the table operating as a ‘shared workspace’ open to both individuals and groups needing a place to work or study – just as you would use your own kitchen table at home.