2012 national competition project #034 | cafeteria redesign
<SLIDE 7: Garden-Cafeteria Exchange>
A diagram of the exchange of materials between Savannah's Garden and the Cafeteria. Savannah's Garden cannot fully support the cafeteria's demand for food items; however, the cafeteria can nonetheless "promote" or "highlight" certain products on a monthly or weekly basis by selling dishes that feature one or two produce from the garden. Thus both the Garden and the cafeteria will raise consciousness about organic foods. Consequently, some of the food waste generated by the cafeteria can be returned to the soil in the Garden using worm compost bins (see Brainstorm Ideas, Slide 5). Another idea proposed by the Sapphire staff and Ms. Fieberg was to use the receipts (see Collect Info, Slide 5) as bedding for the worms in the compost bin.
Comments
I am an Architect based in Washington who served on the final Round 2 competition jury.
Your project has been a delight to review. Your excellent research information gathering was very thorough, and very well presented. You summed up the key points through a variety of means, that very quickly allowed the jury to understand the challenges of the project and form a detailed picture of your campus at many scales. I applaud you on your excellent use of various media and factual evidence. I also appreciated your big picture thinking on connecting your project to Savannah Garden through various programs. This is an important part of reinforcing community through design and sometimes a virtual connection is as important as a physical connection. In the case of your school, reinforcing that sense of community is critical since the campus appears to be physically isolated from the surround area by roadways.
Your sketchbooks were also delight to see; they revealed your thought process and added strength to the design solution. Nicely assembled collages made your preliminary work very compelling.
Your sense of design vocabulary is very strong. Your final design is very nicely integrated into the existing campus fabric. Lastly, your graphics were very clear in explaining your design intent.
To enhance your overall presentation, you may want to consider sketching some views towards the entrance from the outdoor courtyard.
Your idea of connecting to the Savannah garden was wonderful. You may want to explore ways to further reinforce those connections in the courtyard space to the cafeteria? Since the project site is tucked away in the corner, you may also want to look at the possibility of reinforcing a connection through the use of some architectural elements from your design in the courtyard space. I would love to see some sketches of that since clearly you have a good grasp of the vocabulary used on the campus and you understand the importance of making these connections.
I would recommend that you continue to sketch in plan and perspective. A drawing can often convey much more than a 3-D CAD program.
I sincerely hope you continue to pursue your studies in architecture and design. Your design has been a delight to see. Congratulations on your excellent project. Job well done!