55. Designing a Cafe
1. The Project Brief
The module is to be presented in the form of an Illustrated Design Report, where the Report includes background information relevant to the design process; commentaries on the development of the brief and design process; a description of the final design and how it relates to the development process.
You have been commissioned by the University as an architectural engineering consultant to design a new catering outlet. Your Client’s requirements are:
• Indoor space for around 50 people seated.
• Potential for outside seating.
• The venue operate as both a closed and an open box, it allows for spaces to extend outside in good weather
• A suitable design should consider factors such as three dimensional spaces, interior lighting, course finesse in the main lounge area (WESTON, 2004 pg. 47).
• It is important to provide correct café design dimension plans and the specification to work with.
• Catering preparation and servery areas – these should include facilities appropriate to the type of catering on offer (i.e. on a scale between cold water and freshly prepared 3 course meals!) and the style of service (i.e. between slot machine and silver service…). You must decide on a strategy for these and other issues around the way you want the cafe to work. For example, what are the access arrangements for deliveries and waste collection?
• Toilet facilities for staff and customers as well as disabled people. Although a technical requirement, these can be a key indicator of design quality!
• You have complete freedom to design whatever you consider to be appropriate but you must be able to justify all the principal features of your design to your Client. You must also take into account the following Client requirements:
• Building chosen is circular and materials that will be used is timber and glass.
• Your design proposals must pay attention to the physical and cultural context of the site. A cafe can be all sorts of different things in terms of atmosphere and character, from noisy and vibrant to quiet and intimate. Your choice of site will affect the outcome of the brief depending on things like pedestrian flows, sunpaths, etc.
Your Client requires a design that:
a). Makes use of low carbon, low embodied energy materials where practicable;
b). Makes maximum use of natural lighting and ventilation;
c). Can easily be inspected and maintained;
d). Has low operating and maintenance costs;
e). Provides a healthy and safe working environment during the construction, use, maintenance and eventually the demolition of the facility.
• Your detailed design should demonstrate your understanding and appreciation of the brief, the site conditions and how they affect the building’s location; the effective arrangement of the internal and external spaces; the strategic integration of these with the structural and building services systems and knowledge of the proposed building envelope, its thermal, daylighting and sun shading characteristics; materials choice and their application.