University of Rochester Cafe 601 at Strong

This project consisted of renovating and updating an existing 40-year-old kitchen and serving area in order to provide customers and employees with a more pleasing environment. Creating a non-institutional setting was the main goal of renovating the cafeteria. The food-serving areas in the new cafeteria are organized in food-court-style specialty stations, offering different styles of cooking and dishes. Finish combinations were changed at each serving station to create an individual identity for each location. The general finishes in the space are warm and rich with wood tones and coordinating colors and materials to invoke an up-scale feel and relate to the image of the fresh, healthy food being served. Another desire of this renovation was to provide an open and spacious design. The existing structure of this portion of the building has very low structure which does not allow high ceilings. Therefore, ceilings were pushed as high as possible where mechanical ductwork is not required, and “floating cloud” ceilings are placed where there is a need to conceal mechanical ductwork. The project was completed in two main phases. The first phase was to complete the temporary servery which provides prepared meals and grab and go menu items. This phase allowed for the current servery and kitchen to be shut down to allow the renovation. The second phase of the project was to renovate the existing servery and kitchen. The result was a cafeteria with a warmer, more appealing atmosphere for the patrons it serves.