College cafeterias characterize a key design alternative. The place else within the constructing do all college students spend a portion of each faculty day?
As a hub the place college students come collectively, faculty cafeterias may be elementary in serving to to construct a way of group. Apart from serving meals, cafeterias can fill a wide range of different roles as properly, reminiscent of doubling as a “studying commons” the place college students collect to review or socialize—or remodeling right into a banquet corridor for internet hosting dances and group occasions.
Reaching these desired outcomes depends on having an efficient design. With the precise design, your faculty cafeteria can have interaction and encourage college students. Foster faculty satisfaction and spirit. Prolong studying past the classroom. Even generate further income.
Listed below are six suggestions for designing faculty cafeterias that meet these objectives and extra.
Look to the locations college students like to hang around for inspiration.
Take into consideration the place college students prefer to spend their time after faculty: a espresso store, a café, a meals courtroom on the mall. What do these environments have in widespread? Apart from providing a tasty snack or beverage, these locations additionally create a heat and welcoming environment, a vibe that claims: “Are available, sit down and chill out with your pals.”
College cafeterias can recreate that vibe as a way to draw college students in, to grow to be locations the place college students need to spend their time. As an alternative of replicating the drab, institutional appear and feel of a conventional cafeteria, might you select vibrant colours and cozy, enticing furnishings that make the area extra interesting? May you add self-service kiosks the place college students can get meals or drinks outdoors of regular breakfast or lunch hours? How a couple of cafe-style part with espresso and pastries?
By taking inspiration from the locations college students prefer to congregate, you may flip your cafeteria into a contemporary hub the place college students join with one another—and with their faculty.
Supply a wide range of seating decisions.
Giving college students a number of seating choices makes your faculty cafeteria extra comfy and welcoming. It additionally makes the area really feel extra inclusive. Having a number of choices to select from, reminiscent of conventional picnic tables in addition to cubicles and café-style seating, caters to totally different preferences and makes college students really feel extra welcome.
Be sure you supply seating choices that may accommodate totally different group sizes. You would possibly need to embrace bigger tables that may seat 10 to 12 folks, that are properly fitted to internet hosting capabilities, in addition to tables or cubicles that may seat smaller, extra intimate teams of two to 4 college students—in order that college students can work together with their shut pals in a extra relaxed method.
Take into account providing a wide range of heights as properly. Taller bistro tables and stools give college students further choices for sitting comfortably and consuming/research counters that run alongside the size of a wall or round a help column are additionally turning into common. College students can use these areas to arrange their laptops and eat whereas they work.
Design with flexibility and flexibility in thoughts.
To get essentially the most worth out of your cafeteria, it ought to be a multi-use area that helps a number of actions. When meals aren’t being served, can it double as a research middle, lounge space, or studying commons? Are you able to host group capabilities in your cafeteria to lift extra income?
Take into consideration all of the methods you would possibly use the area, after which plan your design to accommodate these varied capabilities. Utilizing modular tables that may be configured in some ways makes it easy to transform the area from one use to a different. Be certain they’re on casters, to allow them to be moved round simply. When buying massive tables, take into account fashions that may be folded up and saved.
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Take note of motion and circulation.
To reinforce your cafeteria’s potential for constructing group, plan the area in a manner that facilitates motion and social interplay. Be certain there are clear walkways for college kids and employees to flow into across the room; tables ought to be positioned with not less than three to 4 toes of clearance between them. Take into consideration the circulation of site visitors as properly and create sufficient area for lunch traces and meals service.
Take into account the expertise infrastructure.
To make your cafeteria practical for studying or finding out, take into account how one can make electrical shops available for college kids to plug of their digital units. As an illustration, you would embed shops within the ground, or select tables and bench seating with shops constructed into the furnishings. When you combine energy into the tabletops and seating, then college students received’t journey on energy cords—they usually received’t be restricted of their selection of the place to take a seat.
Take into consideration incorporating out of doors areas.
In case your cafeteria is accessible to the varsity grounds, take into consideration creating an out of doors courtyard or seating space. Analysis signifies there are clear instructional and health-related advantages to spending time outdoors. As an illustration, respiratory recent air can clear college students’ minds and assist them assume by rising the quantity of oxygen their brains obtain. Being outdoors can even scale back stress and enhance college students’ emotional well-being, and research have proven that kids with ADHD reply positively to spending time in pure settings.
When furnishing out of doors eating areas, use seating that’s safe, weather-resistant and designed particularly for out of doors use, reminiscent of thermoplastic tables with hooked up benches that may’t be eliminated.
Good cafeteria design
With the precise method, you may create a contemporary faculty cafeteria that college students truly need to spend time in, resulting in a stronger sense of group and extra alternatives for studying.
To learn the way the College Specialty Crew might help you design, furnish, and equip future-ready inviting cafeteria areas that serve a number of functions, please contact your College Specialty Consultant.
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Dr. Sue Ann Highland
Sue Ann Highland, PhD, is the Nationwide Schooling Strategist for College Specialty. She has greater than 25 years of expertise as an educator, administrator, and marketing consultant with faculty methods throughout the USA, with broad experience in designing and creating extremely efficient studying environments.
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