Part Two of the discussion looking at considerations for good restaurant planning focuses on developing a solid building program as a foundation for the design process. The owner and design consultant should step through to carefully plan and consider all the programmatic functional elements to be integrated for a successful restaurant. There are numerous factors that will influence how the design of a proposed restaurant will evolve to its final built form.

Most restaurant projects will be designed and fitted for an existing space.  The building space may be a “vanilla” box or the space may need to be renovated from a previous use.  On the other hand, a restaurant project may be a stand alone building on its own property.  The strategic step is to understand and program the space requirements for the proposed restaurant, whether it is a new stand alone building, tenant finish for a “vanilla” box or a renovation of an existing building from a prior use.

The major programmatic restaurant spaces to be defined may include, but not limited to:

• Entry and Waiting Area

• Dining Room

• Bar or Lounge

• Walk-up Service or Take Out Counter

• Restrooms (ADA compliant)

• Kitchen

• Hostess and Wait Stations

• Ample Aisle and Circulation Space

• Dry and Refrigerated Storage

• Office and Employee Amenities

Relationship Diagram for Conceptual Restaurant

The arrangement of these spaces relies on a strong understanding of the building program that you develop with the owner. There are some simple relationships of restaurant spaces that can be universal for good design, for example:

• Clear Circulation allowing for a natural flow

• Patron Entry and Waiting Area are adjacent to the Dining and Lounge

• Walk-up Service is provided,  locate Take Out Counter near main lobby, but not to create a conflict between the dine in customers waiting and take out customers.

• Core of Restrooms (ADA compliant) and Kitchen  to centralize plumbing

• Back of House functions may cluster around the service entry

• The Kitchen is often the hub of the activity

• Separate customer / patron circulation from employee / staff circulation

Various factors will influence the design. The relationships need to be flexible and planned accordingly to best integrate with the existing building space or site. The owner may have a vision for an arrangement of the elements which can be reflected in the design.  There are always influences upon these basic programmatic relationships which will need to be addressed.  The task is to review early on these factors during the building programming work sessions phase.

Potential influences upon the Building Program and Restaurant Design:

• Site  and Building Orientation

• Access to roads and public circulation

• Delivery Access

• Views and Visibility – Visual Opportunities

• Location of existing building systems (Mechanical, electrical & plumbing)

• “Curb appeal” for highest visual marketability of the Restaurant

• Specific preparation process for the kitchen to achieve the cuisine (i.e. visible and open cooking areas)

• Level of privacy desired for the dining areas  (Cozy and intimate, or more communal and open)

From the start, the restaurant concept should be identified early on along side the vision for the culinary menu – Menu and Concept should be paired.  This will reinforce the direction and decisions to make the building programmatic requirements clearly understood.  With a well defined building program, the design process can be logically guided to achieve the restaurant design the owner is seeking.

- Robin Adams

The idea of opening a new restaurant, bakery, or bistro has crossed everyone’s mind at some point:  “Wouldn’t it be great to own and run your own restaurant!” There are multiple challenges, to say the least, in the opening and operation of a successful restaurant.  ArcWest Architects is well positioned to help you with initial planning and building design of a restaurant layout, plan drawings and interior design for a new eating establishment.

Restaurants or cafés can be built in all sizes from a small 750 SF corner coffee shop to a larger, full scale multi faceted 5,000 SF plus restaurant.  The bigger the establishment equates to a more complex project with additional issues.  Regardless of the scale of an eating place, all restaurants share common components that must be planned and carefully organized.

Commercial Kitchen of a Bakery Retrofit for an Existing Building

Though all programmatic spaces of a restaurant are vital, by far one of the most important to consider is the restaurant kitchen. So the focus of this article is to highlight major considerations regarding the design of a commercial kitchen for a restaurant, bakery or café.  The following items are the essential issues or elements that will need to be addressed and incorporated into a kitchen design for a restaurant or café.

Commercial Kitchen Considerations | Checklist:

• Site / Building Evaluation to verify Suitability

• Equipment Schedule based on Menu requirements

• Physical Space Requirements

• Process Map of Food Handling and Preparation Techniques

• Layout of Kitchen Equipment and Workstations

• Dry Storage and Refrigeration Requirements

• Preliminary Regulatory Review

• HVAC  Requirements

• Ventilation Hood, Make Up Air and Fire Suppression Requirements

• Sizing and Installation for Grease Interceptor

• Hot Water Requirements

• Gas and Electrical Service

• Lighting

The very first step is to understand the proposed Menu for the restaurant. The Menu range and versatility should be the driving force in selecting kitchen equipment and understanding required support spaces.  Once the equipment and space requirements are identified, the design team (Architect and consultants) can prepare a preliminary design of the layout. This preliminary design in turn can be used by the engineering members of the team to prepare conceptual engineering systems for the HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical requirements.

Once initial coordination is complete at this schematic level, the owner should review to insure the proposed kitchen design meets his or her expectations and needs.  Upon the owner’s approval, the next step is to set a preliminary design review meeting with the local building department coordinator.  This is a critical step in the process to insure you have a well conceived plan before any additional funds are invested in the proposed restaurant, bakery or café development.

Go to the Denver Building Department website for a reference document, “Restaurants: Building Advisory“, which outlines the plan review process for restaurants.

Upcoming blog … ArcWest will discuss the Design Process for an overall Restaurant or Cafe.

In the discussion of architectural firm’s qualifications the question often comes up as to ones specialty.  Is ones specialty Residential? Is it Commercial? Or is it Light Industrial.  Although the most evident answer is defined by a firm’s resume or recent clients.  For ArcWest Architect’s this would be “Publishing Facilities”. Although a fair assessment, it does not reveal the depth of experience and knowledge that other project types can benefit from.  It simply defines the project type most successfully won in the past.

A publishing facility embodies four distinct project types, which includes Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse, and Information Technologies, as well a wide variety of processes. The publishing facility project type demonstrates ArcWest is actually proficient in numerous project types.

So the real question for an owner/client to ask: “What type’s or projects has the architect completed and what aspects are most paramount to the owner’s proposed project type?”  Based on the answer to this a client can look to his own operation and project goals to determine if a good match exists.

ArcWest Architects clearly has a great depth of experience collectively spanning over 40 years serving the Publishing and Newspaper industry.  What that indicates, beyond the experience with that one client type, is that ArcWest has a knowledge base which includes feasibility studies, masterplanning, building design, space planning, engineering coordination, process integration, equipment coordination, programming, project management, etc.  The key is not the built project type, but the depth of project planning experience.

As a case study, ArcWest recently entered Phase II of construction for a client who provides navigation and informational materials to the aviation industry.  In this case ArcWest’s resume of clients would not appear to have a strong relationship to this Client, but upon further review, ArcWest has strong credentials in process planning, equipment coordination, expedited schedules, and existing facility integration.  The project was the renovation of an existing space to integrate digital imaging equipment, within a extremely short period.  Thus this is a prime example of matching the Project Type to the Project Experience, opposed to looking specifically to a resume of clients.

Project experience is transferable to a variety of project types.  The active or potential project benefits from both the institutionalized knowledge, but also the variety of solutions that might be employed based on past experience.

- Todd Heirls

One of ArcWest Architect’s unique consulting services that are being positively accepted in this recessionary economy has been the “visual blueprinting” of the workflow of a manufacturing operation.  A baseline graphical document is created as the first step in understanding the overall operation from an inclusive group perspective.  This dynamic lean consulting tool allows a 360 degree perspective of an operation that allows EACH member of the manufacturing team a chance to view where they fit into the overall process.  But more importantly it becomes a facilitation tool to make lean work concepts real for the average worker.

We have successfully implemented this into several manufacturing organizations in this past year resulting in over a 10% savings and yielding a 20 to 1 return on the consulting dollars spent with ArcWest.  We would very much like to add your organization to our growing list of satisfied clients.

- Rick Ruffino

ArcWest Architects became certified as an Small Business Enterprise (SBE) approved business with the City and County of Denver (Denvergov) on July 29th of this year.   It was cause for an out loud “Hooray!”  The ArcWest partners labored for a month through the numerous forms that were required to be completed, signed and notarized.  Along with the forms, copies of a myriad of past legal and financial data, personal and business were requested as well.  In the end, we had compiled volumes of tender information that was delivered to the Denver offices in two boxes used to hold reams of paper.  It was quite a feat!

In the earliest months of the year, ArcWest completed a similar exercise to become certified with Denver Regional Transportation District (RTD) as an SBE approved business.  We received our letter of approval the first weeks of March.  Submitting the application to RTD was good preparation for what was required for the Denver certification.

As we approach the final months of 2010, we  ask ourselves:  “How do we leverage and apply this certification?”  We continue to monitor website postings for (RFP’s) Request for Proposals.  ArcWest networks with other larger global companies such as AECOM, Gensler, as well as locally recognized favorites OZ Architecture for example.

Our marketing angle that we promote as we look to draw on our SBE certification:

• The partners of ArcWest have a complete range of skills to provide professional services for a planning and architectural project from programming, preliminary concepts through construction documents and construction administration.

• ArcWest can partner as required to support or augment the project team for an individual phase of the design and administration of the project; or the ArcWest team can lead a full scope of services for an individual component or element of the overall design.

With this approach, we seek an opportunity to introduce ArcWest Architects to companies to share how we can support a project team to provide world-class services.

One of the best moments during the course of a project is to receive some acknowledgment near the end of the process that the work was completed to the satisfaction of your client, and it was a job well done.

We recently experienced that moment as we just received a kind letter from our past client, Service Uniform.  We want to share that letter with you.  There is no way for us to convey more clearly to prospective clients what value ArcWest can bring to a potential project then letters like this from a satisfied owner.

To read the complete letter, please click on Service Uniform.

Thank you -

Robin Adams

We have all heard the saying “location, location, location..” when discussing the success and viability of commercial building properties, commercial developments and retail centers  …..  but what comes to mind next?

Urban areas are littered with older, well located, commercial/retail properties which have been neglected for too long.  I am sure we all have a location that comes to mind. During a boom economy, “yes there was one and will be again”, this neglect was rewarded with stable tenants and profitable lease rates. Times have changed more and more property owners now realize that location isn’t enough, tenants are leaving, traffic is down and the problem begins to accelerate. Progressive property owners understand that now is the time; and one thing for certain is if you do not invest you will not be positioned to compete.

Azteca Market  | 195 South Union |  The Hole Bakery

As one of our recent clients said “we need curb appeal”. This is where ArcWest Architects can help with creative design, economical solutions and conceptual feasibility studies for maximum effect.  To get a better understanding of what is possible and the approach our recent clients have taken, please visit our website to review the  profiles for projects pictured above.

Recent commercial retail / building projects  ArcWest has completed include The Hole on Tennyson Street , 195 S. Union Blvd. in Lakewood and Azteca Market on Colfax Ave in Aurora.

- Kevin Anderson

ArcWest Architects is excited to announce The “Hole” Bakery and Restaurant on Tennyson Street in Northwest Denver is finally open for business.   The official opening day to the public was August 19 just 2 weeks ago today.

It’s that bitter sweet time in which we are pleased to see the completion of a project we have been working on for so long.  The “bitter” is that we no longer have that weekly interaction with the great clients you grow to have a great relationship with.  The “sweet” of course is to finally see the final built product of the design, and a tangible result for all the ideas that were considered (some thrown to the floor in the process) and others  integrated into the final designand  drawings.

There is quite a lot of buzz about the restaurant as you can read in online sources.  The examiner.com published an Introduction by Sarah Gerhart-Bryan.   The Westword set up a profile which has a number of appetizing photos of the doughnuts and pastries.   I stopped in last weekend to introduce the family to the restaurant ArcWest had been working on, and to try out a few of their gourmet doughnuts.  The family thought they were truly awesome!

View of upper seating area and bar at the Hole Bakery & Restaurant

All said, it is certainly a proud moment to see the commercial project complete and the business in operation.  We wish the Delmonico family all the best with their new business and hope “the hole” sells lots of doughnuts.

For more information about the project and to see a series before, during construction and after photos, please see ArcWest Architects “The Hole” commercial project page .

- Robin Adams

Per a Denver Business Journal article: “Demand for architecture services, an indicator of construction activity, improved nationwide and in the West for July, according to an American Institute of Architects report release.

ArcWest Architects has certainly seen a little more activity in recent months which we can only get excited about with cautious optimism.  It has been a challenging 18 to 24 months working to engage clients for active projects in this economy, we think it is only natural the company keeps it’s guard up.

This sentiment is resonated in Kermit Baker’s, AIA chief economist comments in the article.  “While this recent uptick is encouraging, this state of the industry is likely to persist for a while as we continue to received a mixed bag of feedback on the condition of the design market … “

That said, ArcWest is very encouraged by both the increased movement in the industry and the reports confirming other firms are experiencing the same.

Read more:  Architectural demand shows uptick – Denver Business Journal

On May 23^rd I was asked by the faculty at Kenton Elementary School to take part in their “College & Career day” by speaking to the 5^th grade classes about the value of higher education, what education it took to become and architect and what the profession offers.

I thought? This sounds like a great opportunity to give something back to the community although I was a little nervous. There were three separate classes of 25 students that would rotate through my presentation and that of two other professionals; a veterinarian and a banker.

I decided the only way to make this fun for the students and keep their attention was to devise an interactive game. We used the school building as a demonstration architectural project. We made placards for each profession involved with the project.  In addition to the Architect of Record there are other architects, designers, marketers, engineer’s, estimators, contractors etc., 26 participants total.  We discussed each member’s tasks and assigned that task to an interested student until the entire team was assembled.

I had a great time, the 5^th graders were attentive, polite and I think they were genuinely surprised with how many professionals (jobs) it took to complete a project.

My goal for the presentation was to stress the fact that I enjoy my career and the people I get to work with.  None of this would be possible without a college education.

I hope to go back next year.

- Kevin Anderson