Facility Design Project of the Month

Each month, FE&S spotlights a project worth talking about, with in-depth coverage from concept through completion including a kitchen equipment floor plan.

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A bright, comforting cafe welcomes staff, visitors and patients at ProHealth Waukesha Memorial Hospital-Mukwonago in a suburb of Milwaukee. The Café 240 renovation project includes the operation’s retail concept platforms and a dining area, along with an adjacent kitchen that supports the cafe, catering and patient room service.

Guests entering the Orange County Convention Center’s renovated West Building receive visual clues that something out of the ordinary is taking place.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign fully opened Illinois Street Residence (ISR) Dining Center in the fall of 2021 after COVID-19 forced a limited opening the prior year.

Eight microrestaurants greet customers at Ball State University’s North Dining complex. Open to students, faculty, staff and visitors, this marketplace-style dining venue primarily serves 2,000 residents living in four large residence halls near the dining facility.

Ten food stations, two micromarkets and seating throughout the space create a food hall-style experience for employees.

Bay St. Louis, a quaint seaside city in southern Mississippi, recently welcomed Thorny Oyster, an upscale seafood bistro and bar in the new Pearl Hotel. The restaurant’s focal point, a display kitchen, allows guests to watch culinary staff create Southern-style menu items ranging from bouillabaisse and red snapper amandine to seafood plateaus.

Guests dining in The Penthouse at The Summit Club of Tulsa, Okla., enjoy a 300-degree view of downtown Tulsa and its spectacular sunsets. Located on the 32nd floor of the Bank of America building in the downtown area, The Penthouse is the third part of this three-floor club’s major renovation. Part One and Part Two took place on the club’s 30th and 31st floors.

California Polytechnic State University (more commonly known as Cal Poly) in San Luis Obispo, Calif., welcomes the new 3-story, 35,400-square-foot Vista Grande Dining Complex. The first level contains two retail concepts, along with a registered dietitian’s office. The facility’s second level, Vista Grande Dining Pavilion, houses a campus dining hall offering six microrestaurant concepts, each with its own identity, and a production kitchen. Administrative offices and a large meeting room occupy the third level.

Eagle Landing is the first free-standing dining hall at the University of North Texas (UNT). With seating for 700 guests, it boasts 16% more seating capacity than the next largest dining hall. “We now have a $25-million building on campus based on food and the food experience,” says Peter Balabuch, executive director of Dining Services.

Oklahoma City welcomed a new convention center in January 2021, nine years after design began. The $288 million project was funded by the Metropolitan Area Projects Plan 3 (MAPS 3) capital improvement program in Oklahoma City. MAPS 3 uses a one-cent, limited-term sales tax to pay for debt-free projects.

The need for horse racing and gambling venue Delaware Park to evolve the hospitality side of its environment, along with the growing popularity of microbreweries, led to the development of 1937 Brewing Company.

From its inception, the design of Aba in Austin, Texas, called for 75% of its seating outdoors.

Chef Paul Adair dreamed of opening his own restaurant in the Jackson, Miss., area near where he grew up. In 2019, he found a location in a space previously occupied by a high-end restaurant in the Fondren Place neighborhood, which offers shopping, restaurants, art galleries, eclectic architecture and charming homes.

A retirement community in Oregon elevates the traditional independent senior living experience.

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