IUPUI Food Hall
This project was a transformation of an existing food court to a food hall within a large Student Center featuring multiple custom and nationally branded counter concepts, a full Chick-fil-A restaurant with separate seating, a Market and an Organic Healthy Food concept. A centralized security gate was removed to make way for Indianapolis Motor Speedway styled motorized garage doors for night security.
Better flow was created by anchoring the space with brands and opening it up to the central grand lobby for better visibility and easier access.
An immersive seating environment was created that includes new counter seating with charging stations made from re-purposed steel removed from the original security gates.
A variety of table configurations and seating options were provided throughout the space with highlights of the clients core brand colors.
In addition to well established brands such as Panda Express, Pizza Hut and Chick-fil-A, a market with fresh grab-n-go items is included within the food hall as well as a flexible concept with food offerings that change each quarter (voted on by the students).
The Market features some of the re-purposed steel used as both structural and decorative elements.
The work was phased over more than 6 months allowing for continued operation of services to students throughout the project.
Project Details
- Client: IUPUI
- Location: Indianapolis, Indiana
- Year: 2019
Highlight
The Client’s main objective was to improve the visibility of the food venues, flow within the space and to allow for more queuing.
In addition to bringing in well established brands that were student favorites, providing healthy alternatives to students was a focus for the client. Healthy food that was made to order, organic and even made for grab-n-go were all key components to be included.
Improved seating for students/diners was important as well as creating multiple charging stations within the space.
The food hall is directly above the main theater for the campus so we were challenged with bringing power out into the seating area without disturbing the space below – you will see creative design of the community tables that includes power from above via steel supports so as to hide any cabling or conduit.
Another objective was to phase the project to minimize the amount of time any one of the venues was out of service – so a detailed phasing schedule was developed to accomplish this by completing much of the work during the summer break.