Page 16 - School Planning & Management, January/February 2019

FACILITIES WE ALL SCREAM FOR—MOBILITY, CONVENIENCE, FLEX APPEAL AND LUNCHTIME LEARNING
Entrepreneurial opportunities. The new student-led café, known as the Mustang Market, at JJ Pearce High School, in Richardson, Texas, was designed to create a space where the school’s culinary arts students could have real-world business experiences that provides an abbreviated menu of food and drink options for student purchase and consumption.
social destination for dining, discussion, and collaboration. With the use of operable glass partitions separating the student café with the main part of the media center, the school has the option of when to allow for more public and social access in order to minimize possible disruptions to daily learning and research activities for teachers and students. Carleigh Henderson, interior designer with Glenn|Partners, states, “JJ Pearce High School wanted to maximize on shared flexibility in their new active learning environment by utilizing a variety of mobile furniture options to define zones for teaching and learning, collaboration, and dining for the school’s new student-led Mustang Market.” Introducing a mix of traditional seating with other more modern seating options, including lounge-style seating and high-top café-style seating, will help promote a less institutional environ- ment, while increasing comfort and durability with colorful, tough, and cleanable vinyl fabrics.
Flexible and Technology-Enabled
Ursuline Academy, located in Dallas, is faced with similar, yet contrasting challenges for their expanding campus. The cur-
rent dining facility, located on the far west side of campus, is the current heart of the campus where the majority of students gather academically, socially, and for lunch. This flex dining, study, and hangout space has a long-standing tradition of bringing students of all grade levels together and bolsters the sense of community; therefore, the design team was faced with how to expand an aging dining facility with limited physical ability to grow, yet maintain the warm and welcoming feel students prefer to congregate. The solution was to renovate the current kitchen and dining space with flexible, mobile, and multi-purpose seating options while recon- sidering the campus food preparation and serving concept.
To help save space, this primary dining facility will be coupled with a second outdoor satellite dining area on the opposite side of
Flexible seating choices. Part of the renovation taking place at Ursuline Academy, in Dallas, involves create dining spaces where students feel inspired and comfortable while also providing multi-purpose academic and learning opportunities before, during, and after school.
campus for grab-and-go convenience and a café feel to contrast the central dining expansion. This remote dining alternative, located within the campus’ new East Campus Building, will provide more convenient mobile food options and dining space for students not able to travel to the main campus dining facility during the lunch period. This space allocation can also double for serendipitous encounters of study and pre-function event space for after school activities. Key to the success of this planning concept was the cooperative partnership with a third-party outsourced food prep/ delivery company that will help create healthy student menus, stock traditional and mobile food pairings, while also maintaining all kitchen equipment and point of sale operations.
Aaron Ewert, senior project designer with Glenn|Partners, talks about flexible seating choices and the importance of maintaining the heart of Ursuline’s campus: “A distinct demarcation of gather- ing zones reinforced with a flexible variety of furniture solutions, allows the renovated and expanded dining hall to extend the ability to serve the larger student body, and continue to act as the primary campus gathering spot.”
Whether renovating or building a new facility, it is important to create dining spaces where students feel inspired and comfortable while also providing multi-purpose academic and learning oppor- tunities before, during, and after school. In conclusion, when con- sidering the design of your next school dining facility, remember, today’s students are hungry for more personal and mobile food choices that include digital and collaborative study options nestled in open, flexible, bistro-style-designed environments. SPM
>>Patrick Glenn, AIA, REFP, LEED-AP, is a partner and the managing principal with Glenn|Partners located in Dallas, offering a personalized design experience dedicated to the pursuit of innovative and next-generational education facilities. He can be reached at patrick.glenn@glenn-partners.com or 214/725-6135.SPM
16 SCHOOL PLANNING & MANAGEMENT / JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019 WEBSPM.COM