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Urban Elite Designs

By urbanelitedesigns | 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.

We are Urban Elite Designs and for our next project we are going to rebuild Mira Loma's school cafeteria.This is due to the fact that there have been complaints amongst the student population that the current cafeteria is to small and needs an upgrade. We feel we are most qualified for this project because in our past projects we have remodeled and reconstructed buildings for the reasons stated as well as the fact that they have become more Earth friendly. Our current staff members are as followed:

•Directors of Exterior Building Design: Desirae Lasalle and Millie Flores who are working together for an innovative design.
•Director of Interior Building Design: Katie Korolevych who is moving towards a practical yet modern interior design to better the cafeteria.
•Director of Interior Décor Design: Amira Matin who is incorporating style and modernism to make our cafeteria a more stylish, fun environment to spend time in.
•Director of Landscape Design: Kiely Pilcher who is striving for a new, fresh type of landscape design with incorporated school spirit throughout it all.
•Director of Community Relations: Danielle Lechuga who is getting to know the neighborhood and relations within it to further better our school arrangements and layout.
•Director of Sustainability and Energy: Marcus Millan who is progressing towards energy efficiency within our designs and further bettering the structures and designs.

Mira Loma High School is a public school in San Juan Unified School District, located in Sacramento, California. It opened in 1960 and the current number of students at the school is over 1,800. There is approximately 100 staff members which include sixty teachers, four counselors, and six administrative members. The current number of support personnel is seventeen, which includes the electrical and landscaping.

Some of the challenges and problems we have learned from the panel and student interviews are to do with water conserving, certain building requirements, and the general layout of the cafeteria itself. Water conservation plays a big part in everything we do, because we want to be Eco-friendly and conserve as much as possible. The out of date equipment also presents a huge problem because it wastes energy and increases the utility bills. With a new layout for the cafeteria we hope that will make everything more time and space efficient.

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How does your logo fit into the reputation of your firm? what do you specialize in? how will you Brand that concept throughout?

By Stiles-Roberts, Educator at 05:18 pm, 16 September 2012

Director of Exterior Design (Millie Flores and Desirae LaSalle)

Considering that the building is over 50 years old, it is lacking in modern energy efficient technology. With such a large rooftop the immense amount of space seems to be going to waste, so to make more efficient use of the space solar panels should be added. Also, the current windows are not energy efficient and should be replaced by double pane windows that would act as a natural insulator, keeping reasonable temperatures during seasons, while still being energy efficient.

Originally this building was called "the cafetorium" because it served the purpose of a cafeteria during school hours and as an auditorium for community events. What is currently the "black box theater" used to share a uniform space with the cafeteria. However, a wall was installed separating the theater from the cafeteria, eliminating the former stage.

By urbanelitedesigns, Student at 03:34 pm, 18 September 2012

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.

urbanelitedesigns's work for the Collect Information step:

Summary
The way my team gathered information for the Mira Loma's cafeteria remodel was to interview a panel of people that had a lot of good ideas of what the building should look like and what they expected
Here is Urban Elite Designs.
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Aerial view of Mira Loma High School.
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Front of Mira Loma.
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Facing the front of the cafeteria.
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Looking at the back entry/exit points of the cafeteria.
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Interior shot of cafeteria while in use.
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Interior of cafeteria while empty.
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Curious about the instructions for this step of this cafeteria redesign problem? >>

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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.

urbanelitedesigns's work for the Brainstorm Ideas step:

Summary
My team and I took long periods of time to research and really get a feel of what pleasing an enjoyable for people to see in a building in today's population.
Here is a rough draft of our cafeteria sketch up and how we are thinking of creating it. Along with...
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Theses are some landscape pictures that inspire our director of landscaping.
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The CMA-CGM headquarters was a great inspiration to our group. As well as Mies Van Der Rohe's...
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After our field trip to San Francisco we got inspired by this building for its lower extension and...
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This is a sketch of how we want the seating area and tables to be shaped and structured.
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Here is a developmental sketch of how we want the staging area to be layed out.
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This is a picture of the inside of a corporate building and how it really doesn't have the...
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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!

urbanelitedesigns's work for the Develop Solutions step:

Summary
Looking back at our earlier designs we did realize there were problems with them. We totally rethought our cafeteria but with the same shape layout in mind.
Here is the roof of the De Young Museum. We are going to be incorporating the trench-like feature...
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Here are some pictures for our landscape and how we are going to layout our community garden. There...
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Here is our redesign of the front of the cafeteria. Showing how we are putting mostly windows in...
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Here are some new sketches of the interior design of office spaces in the cafeteria. Along with it...
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Here is a picture that really shows the way we think and what we will be doing with solar panels....
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This is what our cafeteria will look like from the front view. It shows what we had sketched and...
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This shows our arcade area and how we are trying to make the cafeteria a more social area for...
14 comments

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

urbanelitedesigns's work for the Final Design step:

Summary
As our project came to the final stages of its creation, we received great feedback from other groups concerning problems with our design and how we could possibly fix them.
This is our model in its entirety. This image shows our model as a whole and then each individual...
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Here are the two stories individually without being on top of each other. We showed our building...
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These pictures show our quad remodel from both and aerial view and from the point of view of...
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Here are the energy makers for our cafeteria. As you can see we did put four elongated solar panels...
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This is our finished cafeteria design with all the problems fixed and accommodations taken care of.
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This picture shows our first floor and how we tried using LED lighting through the circles in the...
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These seating arrangements were all inspiring for our Director of Interior Decor because of their...
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