How do campuses and corporations provide safe gathering for dining in a pandemic, and how do they build for the next one? In a conceptual design study for a major northeastern college, Simmons STUDIO proposed creating an adaptable al fresco dining pavilion. It can be open to the sky, or on rainy or hot days, the translucent fabric roof can close to create a shady and weathertight area. Central steam-heated bench seats, and radiant panels and slabs allow for sustainable comfort all year round, with fresh air in abundance.

Two covered open-air cooking venues will serve the area to provide food with an extremely low carbon footprint. The design eliminates the extremely wasteful exhaust hood ventilation that is required indoors, which involves heating outside air, and then immediately expelling it through an expensive exhaust system, which produces massive GHG emissions.

In the rear of this project, an underutilized courtyard is reimagined as an outdoor dining area where the servery opens out from a naturally ventilated covered addition via three glass bifolding doors.