Monroe College – School of Culinary Arts

SITUATION ANALYSIS

The School of Hospitality Management & Culinary Arts was relying on a local restaurant for laboratory course work in Culinary Arts. This arrangement was no longer able to support the growth in enrollment of the Culinary Arts department. The Culinary Arts department needed a new home.

CHALLENGE

Create a teaching environment that simulates the real work- a- day world of commercial kitchens. Design it in a way that maintains small classes and promotes individual instruction. Further, it needed to be designed in a way that the space was open and flexible and allowed for future growth.

PROJECT STRATEGY

Design the facility with a total of four labs: two a la carte, one banquet and one bakery/ pastry. Position two labs each side by side and back to back to take advantage existing building entrances and the natural light from high windows on both sides of the building. Locate storage (refrigerated and dry), pot washing, cold prep and ancillary functions around the perimeter of the space to maximize open area adjacent the laboratory zones. State of the art equipment was installed to provide students with “real world” experience.

SOLUTION

Phase I: Convert an existing 1st floor computer lab to a Culinary Arts training facility. Phase 2 (future): Expand the program to include service training by converting an adjacent library space into an a la carte restaurant laboratory open to the general public 2 – 3 days per week.

RESULTS

The project was completed on time and on budget. Chef Hinder, Director of the Culinary program said ”It is a culinary dream come true!”

Click Here to view Project Drawings in Adobe Viewer