A successful dining facility such as Clemson University’s Core Campus Dining Facility, can support overall student experience and retain a great student body
Clemson University, as part of its redevelopment of its “Core Campus,” hired Sasaki to design a new dining facility that addressed the growing demand for contemporary dining options in support of the university’s goals of retaining more sophomore students on campus and maintaining its position in the top 20 national public universities.
Clemson’s Core Campus Dining Facility resulted in a $30 million, 81,000 square foot, 1,200 seat modern food service facility that offers a variety of open cooking venues with different late night retail venues and a small convenience store. This “chapel for food,” as Sasaki calls it, is designed to mimic the look of a greenhouse with its sculptural folding roof extending over the two-story dining space.
“Inspired by greenhouse design, the playful saw tooth roof harvests the northern light into a naturally illuminated and uplifting space that celebrates food, sharing and community.” — Ivelisse Otero, Integrated Design Project Manager and Senior Associate at Sasaki
Clemson University Core Campus Dining Facility. Photo: © Jonathan Hillyer
Project Description:
The Clemson University Core Campus Dining Facility is a 81,000 square foot, 1,200 seat modern food service facility that offers freshly prepared daily meals via a variety of open cooking venues and houses five different late night retail venues and a small P.O.D. convenience store. As part of Clemson’s redevelopment of its “Core Campus,” construction of this dining facility proceeded in tandem with new student housing construction, designed by VMDO Architects. These projects as a whole address the growing demand for contemporary housing and dining options in support of the university’s goals of retaining more sophomore students on campus, and maintaining its position in the top 20 national public universities.
A new pedestrian spine, the “Clemson Walk”, connects Fort Hill to the south and Alpha Beta Drive to the north and acts as a key organizing space of the Core Complex. The new dining hall is located along the edge of the Clemson Walk and helps define a new urban edge with courtyards and terraces enlivened by the surrounding dining entrances, retail venues, outdoor seating, and colorful seasonal landscapes.
Clemson University Core Campus Dining Facility. Photo: © Jonathan Hillyer
The Main Dining Hall is highlighted along the Clemson Walk by a stately brick colonnade, book-ended by two-story glass spaces that are accessed via welcoming entry porches. A sculptural folding roof, visible from the Clemson Walk, extends east to west over the two-story dining space that opens onto a mezzanine, and folds down the west elevation to define the grand two-story dining hall.
The project is projected to be certified LEED® NC Silver.
Project name: Clemson University Core Campus Dining Facility
Project location: Clemson, South Carolina
Client name: Clemson University
Completion date: September 2016
Size: 81,000 sf
Services: Architecture, Interior Design and Landscape Architecture
Team: Design Architect: Sasaki and Architect of Record: Stevens & Wilkinson
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