The sale of the existing urban facility provided ample funds to purchase new land in a remote London suburb and to hire Kieran Timberlake to design a striking new embassy. Its expansive, light-filled cafeteria was designed to host important embassy events formerly held off-site at great expense. To add to the benefits, a new cafe offers a perfect venue for staff happy hours.
As a consultant to URS Corporation, HOPKINS designed a new 25,000 square foot dining hall to serve up to 3,000 soldiers 22 hours a day. When the budget for this project was slashed, HOPKINS was sent to Djibouti to survey surplus foodservice equipment in storage to identify pieces that could be salvaged to allow the project to proceed through construction.
This Design Excellence project, won as a joint venture by The Kling Lindquist Partnership and RTKL in 1993, lasted for well over a decade. As the number of employees transferred into the facility grew to more than 6,000, so did the need for multiple food outlets, which today range in size from grab-n-goes to full-service cafeterias. The availability of five points of service keeps employees from traveling to local strip centers for lunch. The kitchen’s large catering area supports a full FDA event schedule.
The new SOM-designed conference center provides housing and meal service as well as catering to conferees and will use minimum amounts of energy and water to do so.