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Mira Loma High School Cafeteria/Student Union Re-Design

By Dynamic Designs Inc. | L Redesign your school cafeteria

Overview Instructions

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The first step of the design process involves thinking about the big picture – the Overview.  It’s where you define and state the problem you are trying to solve. 

You’ll need to really understand the problem that exits before chasing after solutions.  How is your school's cafeteria designed now?  Start by making notes about what’s working and what isn’t working with the existing design.

Next, write and post a statement about out who are the people that have the need for a new design?  How long has this situation been a problem? Have others tried to solve this design problem before you?  What was the result?

Then write and post a short, but clear, success statement.  How will you know if you have a successful solution when you’re done?  When you’re nearly finished with your design project, you can go back to this success statement to see if your design has met the criteria you first proposed.

Dynamic Designs Inc.
As a group we decided to choose Dynamic Designs as a team name because it describes our style of work and how our buildings will be presented. Our team name reflects on our work and you will be able to see that the team Dynamic Designs has created the building.
-Director of Exterior Building Designs: Marcela Maldonado
-Director of Interior Building Design: Lucy Jacobo
-Director of Interior Decor Design: Ines Diaz
-Director of Landscape Design: Ana Azad
-Director of Sustainability & Energy: Bianca Dobre

The cafeteria faces certain problems and challenges that should be addressed. It is designed in a rectangular structure with high ceilings and with one side of the building covered in windows. There is not really an organized structure for lunch lines for students to wait for their food, which creates problems with over crowded lines and students cutting. Some problems include the structure of the building, the crowded lunch lines, the seating and table arrangements, the small restrooms, bad acoustics, bad sound system, and no performance/ stage area. Mira Loma High School needs a new design to improve the students’ lunch experience. This situation has been a problem since the school has gotten more and more students over the years. The school has tried to improve the cafeteria by removing the stage to create more space inside but it did not really improve the appearance or helped benefit the cafeteria. We will know that we are successful if our design provides an organized solution to the crowdedness in the cafeteria and improve the environment and appearance for students to enjoy.

CA, United States of America, Sacramento, Public School; 1960
In 2010 Mira Loma High School celebrated its 50th anniversary. Built in 1960, Mira Loma High School is one of nine comprehensive high schools in the San Juan Unified School District, located in Sacramento County. With one primary feeder school and strong academic and extra-curricular programs, Mira Loma is a school of choice for many of San Juan as well as out of district students. The
school is located in a suburban community, with students from a wide spectrum of socio-economic backgrounds. This diversity is a valuable asset that strengthens and enriches our community.
Mira Loma High School is a comprehensive high school with 1665 students. This represents an increase in enrollment of about a hundred students over the previous year. Enrollment is favorably affected by students from outside Mira Loma’s attendance area. These students choose to attend Mira Loma for its outstanding IB, MYP, IS, and Passport programs. From this pool, Mira Loma attracts 353 inter-district students and 80 intra-district students. Mira Loma currently has 451 freshmen, 435 sophomores, 423 juniors, and 356 seniors.

Comments

Thank you for doing the effort to create better schools. - Marla Ahlgrimm

By Parkours Peeta (not verified) at 05:17 pm, 13 March 2015

Curious about the instructions for this step of this cafeteria redesign problem? >>

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In the Collect Info step of the design process, you try to gather as much information as possible about your school's existing cafeteria.  You also want to learn as much as you can about the students and staff who will use it. You can't propose new solutions until you figure out and document what the existing problems are.  That's what this step is for.

Try This

  • Do a site visit of your school's existing cafeteria and kitchen facilities and make notes, sketches, and take lots of photographs. Note conditions that are unsecure or less than ideal.

  • Sit and study photographs of your site visit.  Post images and comments of what you remember and note where you might change things and how.

  • Interview your school's head cook and least 4 other students and ask them what they like and dislike about the current cafeteria.

  • Calculate the number of students who eat in the cafeteria each day. How many different lunch periods does your school have?  Consider how this information will affect your redesigned cafeteria.

  • Do an analysis at different times of the day, week, or school year and create a chart or diagram with average usage and high / low points.

  • View an aerial photo of your school on Google maps. Note where the existing cafeteria is located.  What are the existing overall dimensions of the cafeteria?  IMPORTANT! Post a screencapture of this aerial photo and explain its location so everyone can understand the relationship between your school building as a whole and the proposed location of the new cafeteria. Describe the other rooms in the school surrounding the cafeteria.

  • Draw a basic floor plan sketch of the existing cafeteria and note surrounding rooms.  Include dimensions on your sketch so every can understand the size of the cafeteria. IMPORTANT! Post this existing floor plan.

Dynamic Designs Inc.'s work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
Team Picture: . Satellite Image: Exterior Shots: Interior Shots: Exit/Entry Points:
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Satellite image of our school campus
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Exterior shot of the cafeteria
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Interior shot of the cafeteria
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Exit and entry points
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Cafeteria being used by students
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View of the kitchen .
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In the Brainstorm Ideas step of the design process, you start to be inspired by new places and you put some early ideas down on paper that show what you've found in the Collect Info step.

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  • Go online and research other schools, universities, or restaurants to determine good / bad examples of how these eating spaces are designed. What inspires you?

  • Save copies of these images and post them in the slides for your project.  Include a hyperlink to the photo in the caption, to credit the photographer.

  • Gather all your notes from your interviews and post a summary of the results in the text box for your project.

  • Make a list of all the unique spaces and features you plan to have in your cafeteria.  Write this list of items in the text box for your project. 

  • You may redesign the interior of the existing cafeteria space, expand on the existing space, or design a completely new addition on to your school building.  It's your choice.
  • Your cafteria can include any types of spaces and features you feel are most important for your particular school, but here are a few suggestions:
    + variety of seating options for students
    + kitchen with food prep, storage, and clean up areas
    + oudoor access for student seating, if possible
    + outdoor access for food deliveries and waste
    + sustainability issues and the environmental impact of your design
  • Determine the best location for your new cafeteria. Make side notes of where new elements may go or how you would change what is currently in place.

  • Take note of conditions that do not make sense, for example: not enough space for all students to eat; confusing patterns for moving through the lunchline; not enough food choice areas; no opportunities for quiet areas to study during lunch.

Dynamic Designs Inc.'s work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
We thought of ideas of how to expand and improve the cafeteria that would benefit both the students, and other extra curriculum events that would happen inside.
This building inspired me to create a glass building. The structure is similar to what are vision...
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Dynamic Designs Inc. Director of Landscape. The fountain was an example of what we put in the front...
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Director of Sustainability & Energy- Bianca Dobre This picture is a good example of what we...
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Director of interior decor. This stage is and example of what we want for our stage in the first...
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Most of the inspiration for the interior design of our cafeteria came from Arden Fair Mall in...
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Most of the inspiration for the interior design of our cafeteria came from Arden Fair Mall in...
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Most of the inspiration for the interior design of our cafeteria came from Arden Fair Mall in...
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Curious about the instructions for this step of this cafeteria redesign problem? >>

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In the Develop Solutions step, your rough ideas come together with drawings and models that can show others your solutions for a new cafeteria.

Try This

  • Use cardboard to create a 3D study model of early ideas. Or use create a rough digital study model of your ideas. These models don't need to show detail, just the overall size and massing for your cafeteria.

  • Try out different ideas and save each “version”. You do not want to lose a good idea later!  Other people viewing your project - other students around the country, your teacher, and mentors - want to see how your ideas have changed over time. This means that if you're working on your digital model, you’ll want to be sure to keep re-saving it with a new file name every few days as you work through the steps.  If you're working on a physical model, take photos of it before working on it each day.
  • Show your ideas to your teacher and peers for some feedback. You can also review your progress with the test group you may have interviewed and test whether your design would meet their needs or address their concerns. Learn from the feedback you receive and incorporate into your final design solution.
  • Be sure to check out and make comments on other student design projects.  Post a link to your project on your Facebook account.
  • Do not leave work for the last minute! Going through a detailed design process requires time to gather information, develop ideas, and make improvements. This is difficult or impossible if you try to pull everything together a week before your project is due. Projects that are researched, developed, and well executed will always stand out!

Dynamic Designs Inc.'s work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
For our design of the cafeteria, we decided to create a two story building.
This drawing is the selling shot of our building.
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This is the arial shot of our building. It shows the type of glass roof we plan to have in order to...
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This is the front view of our building displaying the two stories we included along with the...
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This is the view for the bottom floor of the cafeteria. It includes the kitchen and lunch line area...
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In this picture, our group made the skeleton of our building which included the walls and the start...
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At this stage in our 3D model, we are working on building a domed shape roof. The front, back and...
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In this stage of our model, we were working creating the windows at the front of the building.
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Curious about the instructions for this step of this athletic cafeteria redesign problem? >>

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The Final Design step of the design process is to create more finished drawings and models that illustrate your ideas to others. Remember, your explanation text, and the types of drawings, images, and models you share need to tell the whole story of your project to someone who may or may not have ever visited your school.

Try This

  • Review your design and test it against your original sucess statement that you wrote for the Overview. Does it meet this criteria?

  • Does your final design meet the expectations of the students and cafeteria staff that you interviewed?  If not, you may need to go back to the drawing board and revise your design.

  • Make a list of your ideas, sketches, and study models. For your final design you will want to write and post a short but effective paragraph of your process and the unique solutions you developed.  Tell us about your ideas.

  • Your teacher (and architectural mentors, if you're working with any) will be looking for these things:

    + originality in your design
    + your ability to creatively solve the design challenge
    + the quality of images, sketches, drawings, and models you have uploaded in each of the five design process steps (Overview, Collect Info, Brainstorm Ideas, Develop Solutions, and Final Design).
    + how well you have written about and explained your thinking in each of the design process steps

Dynamic Designs Inc.'s work for the Final Design step:

Summary
In this project we learned many different variations of architecture. These are the pictures of our final 3D model of our renovated version of the cafeteria.
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