FROM THE EDITOR.

• Author: Anderson, Tasha

A good friend of mine had an oven/cooktop that decided it would rather not cook things anymore. After much pleading and attempts to compromise, it remained uncooperative She and her husband took the opportunity buy their dream oven unit. which required them to order it from out of state. While they waited for the new, willing-to-doits-actual-job oven to arrive, they needed some kind of cooking option to feed her family of six and purchased a counter-top air fryer. When the new oven arrived, she asked if I wanted the air fryer, as she didn't really have the counterspace for it. I don't eitner, at home, but I keep a cooking appliance in my office at work.

I've never owned an air fryer, and if this one ever had a manual, it was lost shortly after its unpacking. So after I took it into work and plugged it into the wall, successfully cooking my bagel was between me and the machine.

This particular model has a few buttons and a knob, and after a few minutes of tinkering with them, I was confident I could put a thing in it and the thing would come out toasty. I was, in fact, successful.

That, in and of itself, is a testament to the marvels of engineering. Engineering an item requires taking into consideration endless details, from safety requirements to energy efficiency to ensuring the user can interact with the item so it can fulfill its purpose.

In this issue's Architecture & Engineering special...