PERSPECTIVES
Almost four months ago, the way in which we lived, worked, and in particular, socialized dramatically and suddenly changed. The Covid-19 pandemic has ushered in a new era of social distancing and safety precautions. Amongst the hardest-hit industries were restaurants and dining culture. Before the pandemic, we were entering into a golden age of food, restaurants and dining. Chef-owned and -operated restaurants proliferated while fast food culture dissipated. People were going out to eat at sit-down restaurants more than ever as high quality, well-prepared food became more accessible and sought after. Sparked by a fascination with food culture, restaurant design was focused on being more engaging and open.
At RODE, many of our clients were pushing the boundaries for open kitchen designs (Fox & The Knife), informal social seating (Southern Proper), and food hall configurations (Coppersmith). When restaurants around the world were mandated to close doors, chefs and owners quickly had to pivot towards delivery and takeout services, minimal staff-to-customer interaction, and the ability to effectively prepare food in as sterile an area as possible. For some restaurants, these requirements were not realistic, given a number of factors including layout, size, kitchen enclosure, and ability to isolate customer pick-up. How do we design restaurants to be adaptable to the current social-distancing culture while preparing them for any future crises?
There will likely be three primary factors to consider:
Maximize Flexibility and Adaptability of the Space
Seating arrangements and types need to be adaptable and movable. Southern Proper (pictured left) is a good example of modular seating. Fixed banquets, booths, and extended bar seating might need to be reconsidered as movable seating pods or be designed with barriers or enclosures to isolate each dining party. Tables that can be adjusted as two tops, four tops, or combined to be six or eight tops might be more commonly used.
Outdoor seating will also be an important element to incorporate in all restaurant
designs. One consideration might be to dedicate an area as an indoor/outdoor flex zone with a deployable enclosure. Dorchester Brewing Co. (pictured right) is utilizing their roof deck to increase their space while instituting for proper distancing. The exterior portion can be tented, allowing it to be utilized all year round. Overall, the goal should be to allow as much flexibility as possible for seating arrangements so that the capacity of the restaurant and the isolation of each dinner party can be controlled. RODE has been working with local establishments to strategize plan for re-opening their establishments post-Covid-19. The plans below show how space can be reorganized to properly social distance sections and patrons.
Privatize the Dining Experience
Before Covid-19, there was a significant paradigm shift towards communal dining experiences, whether that be communal table seating, food halls, or an emphasis on liquor/kitchen bar seating. The most obvious shift in dining philosophy will probably be focused on the reduction of these seating types. Bars, in particular, have commonly been social hot spots, commonly supplemented by standing areas and drink rails to condense as many patrons as possible. The design of bars as a central social element of a restaurant might be reconsidered entirely. Should we design bars now in the same way we design the kitchen, as less of a social gathering node and more of a functional component of the BOH (back of house)? One consideration could be to design smaller “bars” or drink rails that could either be socially distanced or movable.
Control the Sterile Environment and Avoid Customer Contamination
One of the most important factors involved in designing a safe dining experience will be the ability to control the sterile environment in the BOH, It will be imperative to protect the restaurant staff as much as possible, in order to prevent any spread of contamination. This might include more touchless payment options, separate circulation paths for wait staff, and dedicated bathroom circulation for guests. RODE designed the restaurant plan below to help our client address separate circulation paths for customers and servers, as well as take sanitation into consideration.
Open kitchens and kitchen bar seating will have to be reworked. One idea might be to have a large window that looks into the kitchen, like one utilized at French Laundry by Snohetta in Napa Valley (pictured left). The window provides protection while also preserving the interactive dining experience. Another consideration might be to isolate the dish pit and bathrooms as a dirty zone and provide dishwashers and cleaning staff with adequate PPE to protect themselves. We might also design towards single-use bathrooms with a dedicated disinfectant station.
If done correctly, following Covid-19 safety precautions and strategizing restaurant design to conform to new standards should not have a negative effect on the dining experience. The new normal will seem strange in the beginning, as with any new system, but restaurateurs, chefs, architects, and designers are coming together like never before, to ensure dining out is a pleasant and safe experience for everyone.
We, at RODE Architects, are saddened by the recent passing of Dean Marvin Malecha. We wish to offer our condolences to Marvin’s family and his friends and colleagues whom he touched. Marv had a profound impact on so many people and we pause here to remember that our tenure on land is brief, but what we do carries on. Marvin was an apostle of the design education and its many benefits.
As many know, RODE can trace its origins to a ‘Fundamentals’ studio at NC State’s College of Design, pictured here at Leazar Hall. Fundamentals meant we started with basic principles and took up design learning through a variety of media types--color, light, drawing, graphics, and the environment. Eric and I met in that studio and in many ways, carry on with a spirit of integration and collaboration across many disciplines. Dean Malecha was a perfect steward for this pedagogy.
Marvin took over just as we were finishing, but I knew him as my connection to the school as an alumni. He was always curious, passionate, and proud of the NC State grads making it in Boston. Thanks Marv, you will be missed.
- Kevin Deabler, AIA,
Principal, RODE Architects
This March, as Covid-19 started to take its grip on the nation, there was a grassroots call-to-action asking those with 3D printing capabilities to produce protective equipment to those in the medical field. RODE, enthusiastic to help, virtually “came together” to design, produce, and donate PPE to those in need.
A “RODE Response Task Force” was established, and data and designs were strategized via video chats and phone calls. Just as it is when designing a building, many factors had to be considered:
- Porosity – Is the printer's PLA (polylactic acid) too porous to be protective as a mask?
- Cleanability – Can it be easily sprayed and wiped cleaned?
- Breathability – Does it protect, while allowing users to easily get air?
- Moldability – Will it easily mold to different face and head shapes?
From their research, the team discovered it was more beneficial to print face shields instead of masks. “The face shields are flexible and easy to fit around all head shapes. Acting as a headband for your forehead, the shield allows a piece of plastic to clip into a frame, making sterilizing or replacing the shield component quick and simple. When used in tandem with other PPE, the shields are perfect for providing medical professionals with an additional layer of protection,” said Anna Arnot, Architectural Designer at RODE
Next, the team researched open source 3D print files for face shields and selected a shield created by Professor Jenny Sabin at Cornell University. Archimedia generously donated a 3D printer to the cause, and RODE began production.
The endeavor has been a big success. Alex Zee, Architectural Designer at RODE, provided his girlfriend a shield, enabling her to spend a week by her grandmother’s bedside in a Covid unit. The shield, used in conjunction with a mask, successfully protected her from the virus (she tested negative for Covid-19 the following week).
Currently, Alex is overseeing the production and assembly of 300 shields for UMass Medical. The DCU Center in Worcester will serve as an emergency clinic and our shields will protect health care workers and volunteers while working with patients. RODE is also hoping to provide other outlets with shields, such as nursing homes and assisted living facilities in hopes we can help more individuals fighting the good fight.
A message from RODE Architects Partner/Founders Eric Robinson & Kevin Deabler
After a week that has likely defined a new way of working and living, we wanted to send an update to RODE Architects’ employees, clients and partners. Adaptation has always been a core principle in our architectural design and implementation playbook. Of the many factors that play into working through the unprecedented challenges presented by COVID-19, the ability to change how and where we work to achieve the same standard and level of excellence is something that will continue, and is a trait we regard as important as any drawing, sketch, or floor plan. The culture will no doubt continue to change as we navigate these uncharted waters but our commitment to excellence in serving our clients will not, as we best navigate a remote working environment.
RODE’s identity is built through those who are part of our team. Though we are not in office, we are still committed to building our culture through teamwork and a culture of supporting each other. The All-RODE chat thread is filled with encouragements, celebrating small successes, and the first signs of Spring! We’ve created a ‘Parent Support Group’ thread to share ideas on how to survive sharing a workspace with kids. And we look forward to our first remote Beer Friday, where everyone will sign-on accompanied by their favorite beverage.
Then there are the continued emails, google chats, videocalls. While we can’t just pop over to someone’s desk to work through a design challenge, we are still connecting. Our first successes will be achieved through “over” communicating at first, since we can’t know exactly how these conditions will affect our process. Like everyone else in the virtual workspace, we are already getting into a groove as a team, and a “new process” has emerged, one built on the foundations of the RODE way. Fortunately, we cultivated an energetic environment of communication and collaboration within our physical studio space, which gave the team a kind of social structure that is now working to help us in our remote communications. We can’t say it’s been effortless, but the transition has actually been quite smooth, all things considered.
While active construction has been halted in Boston, behind the scenes, our projects are still moving forward. We feel the angst of clients whose construction sites - some just days or weeks away from on-site completion - have come to a halt. There is a lot of coordination and planning that happens outside of the actual construction site, and as of now, we’ve been able to keep many projects moving even while the building has stopped. We continue to stay in close, regular contact with the Boston Planning & Development Agency, which is still working through these unprecedented circumstances.
We have created a communication infrastructure and system of daily “check-ins” that keep teams on task and projects moving forward effectively. Project managers can quickly communicate with each other to reallocate staff as priorities change or schedules realign. And through Google’s suite of tools - Chat, Meet, Hangouts – our staff have still been able to hold quick meetings, share design progress, and coordinate teams. As projects continue to move forward, we grow ever more fluent in these tools for remote communication, we know that working on the technical aspects of our job will become ever smoother.
As we stitch together this new network of connectivity, how can we guarantee that projects will still be given a spark of inspiration; will we still experience the “lightning bolt” moment that invigorates our studio culture? These early days give us comfort in that regard. We follow the same recipe that gave us success in the first place: bring the right people together, foster an atmosphere of inclusion and robust contribution of ideas, and eagerly pursue those ideas that have merit. Our impressive team of creative minds possess the ability to adapt to something they haven’t done before – creating and designing inspired architecture in a virtual workspace. Much like creating the vision for a project in a difficult environment with multiple planning challenges, the team is making it happen, and finding opportunity in the challenges. Our team understands that disruption to the norm can generate great creativity and thus, those signature RODE lightning bolt moments. The commitment to continuing our mission to servicing clients in the COVID-19 climate is as strong as ever.
Every year Taubman College coordinates a weeklong unpaid externship during U of M’s spring break. The program is intended for students interested in exploring the architectural profession and adjacent design related fields. Students are hosted by a variety companies and offices across the country.
Students are expected to engage in observational and/or hands-on activities at their given firms in order to further their understanding of architectural practice. I chose to spend the week at RODE Architects for a couple reasons - I spent six years in Boston while (and after) completing my bachelor’s of science in civil engineering, so I was eager to return and visit my girlfriend old friends who still live in the city. I was also impressed with the variety of projects in RODE’s portfolio, projects ranging from small scale renovations to hotels to restaurants to multifamily residential, etc. - large scale and small. The smallish size of the firm appealed to me, and the culture surrounding the office seemed to be a good fit as well.
During my week at RODE I was exposed to a wide variety of projects - I attended a passive house meeting, visited the 960 Mass Ave. site, went on a walkthrough of the 233 Hancock St. mixed-use development, and sat in on a couple other meetings as well. My main responsibility during the externship was the production of a model of the 1515 Commonwealth Ave’s revised configuration.
I can’t take much credit for the model pictured here, though - that’s all Zoe Wong who built the site model and prepared all the laser files for the project - her hard work really set me up for success [ed: take credit, Adrian - the model looks great!!]. I had a lot of fun with the model building process, but mostly I’ve enjoyed getting to know the RODE team. Everyone’s been extremely friendly, helpful, and happy to fill me in on what they’ve been working on. I’d definitely recommend the experience to any Michigan student looking for experience in Boston!
