Hello,

> The brief is to create a minimal Unix system based on a solid core. 
> It would be intended to run desktop machines and workstations, and to
> be a small and light as possible.  

If you want it to have light and small KDE is definitive the wrong desktop environment. I recommend using of ROX (rox.sourceforge.net), it's light, very fast, elegant and have a very smart DND concept.

 
Best regards, Tilo