Canteen Too Small - Site Study (Blog 7)

St. Hildas Secondary school


As you can see, there are a total of 11 stalls to serve the needs of students. This will also lessen the queues since there are so many variety of food choices.



Large space used for canteen to fit many tables and benches to accommodate the students.

Republic Polytechnic


super, super, SUPER big canteen. This is just one out of the many canteens in Republic Polytechnic. As noticed, high ceiling is being used since it's non air-conditioned, to allow air ventilation.



I also like how they make use of an elevated area that leads to more tables and chairs.

Canteen Too Small- Interview/ Survey (Blog 6)

Survey for students in NAFA
   
From this, we know that more than 50% of the students in NAFA use the canteen.

So, many students use the canteen more for convenience purposes.

Interviewing the public
(Working adult)

Mr Leow Swee Heng

53

Engineer

Mr Leow is an engineer who works in a local small/ medium enterprise in Singapore. He does not order takeaway nor brings a lunchbox to work. He visits the nearest shopping mall often to have his meals. The staff canteen that's available to him is dirty, small and has poor ventilation. Dining there will only be for urgent use. He does not need to wait for an empty seat in the staff canteen as it is not fully crowded.

I realized that most people use a canteen when they have no choice. Which is why having a canteen is a must-need. 

Canteen Too Small - Culture & Creativity (Blog 5)

What is Culture?

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts.


What has creativity and design got to do with culture?

In my opinion, there are so many types of races in this world, with different religion and culture. So definitely when you want to design something, you must consider about your buyers by knowing their culture and their taste in things.


http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/group-southeast-asia-people-different-race-culture-cute-cartoon-illustration-design-representing-asean-organization-41599013.jpg

The above picture says, "same same but different". 
They are all the same aren't they? they are all clothes. But they are all different based on design.

Canteen too small - Case study (Blog 4)

I did a case study on Shanghai Art & Design Academy.


(Shanghai Art & Design Academy)

The canteen in Shanghai Art & Design Academy has approximately 300 seats and has 7 counters. The arrangement of the seats provides just the right amount of space needed to walk pass and for queuing.

 

(Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts)

Comparing it with NAFA's canteen, both of them has too little seats available for people to dine during the peak period. This shows that the size of the canteen is defined by the students. No matter how big and gigantic your canteen is, if there are a lot of students in the school, the canteen is still considered small.

Canteen Too Small- Research Sources (Blog 3)

Electronic sources

http://www.tbns.net/pjinchina/yangzhou3108_1609/canteen.html

http://sheronologue.blogspot.sg/2014/09/wanderingseouls-day-27-of-143-cat-cafe.html

Books

Restaurant Success by the Numbers: A Money-Guy’s Guide to Opening the Next Hot Spot Paperback by Roger Fields

(Providing insight about creating and maintaining sound financial decisions while catering to a broad audience and reinforcing the importance of knowing customers with some interesting facts. e.g Eighteen to twenty-four year olds eat out more often than any other group.)

The Restaurant Manager’s Handbook: How to Set Up, Operate, and Manage a Financially Successful Food Service Operation by Douglas Robert Brown

(This book consists of basic cost controls, choosing of proper equipment, training employees and having effective restaurant layouts.)

magazines

www.fsrmagazine.com/marketing/managing-wait-time

 (Managing customers smartly by looking after customers who are waiting by providing drinks and earning some money(tips) at the same time.)

www.qsrmagazine.com/franchising/best-way-assemble-your-crew

(Knowing which employee suits which job best as employees play a huge role in a restaurant. If your employee is a slow, demotivated kind of person you are bound to lose some customers. But if your employee is slow but a very cheerful and happy person then it'll be a whole different situation.)

Canteen Too Small- Empathy (Blog 2)

What is empathy?

Empathy is the experience of understanding another person's condition from their perspective. You place yourself in their shoes and feel what they are feeling.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/empathy 

Since my topic is based on canteens being small, there are a few things i need to consider. For example, the stallholders and the customers.

Canteen too small
Customer's point of view -No place to sit due to limited seats, due to limited space.
                                        -Sick of queuing because canteen is so small that there is only one                                          stall.
                                        -Gulping down food because seat is being found at the very last                                              minute.
                                        -No time to eat

Stallholder's point of view -Being stressed out all the time as the queue is always so long.

(Above are all the possible thoughts i could think of.)

I feel that when a designer designs something for the very first time, you need empathy. One will only know how their design should be like after understanding people. 
Empathizing is important as it guides us to the right direction.





                                         

Design process - Canteen too small (Blog 1)

                                    Canteen Too Small

My group (group 6), chose to work on the topic, 'Canteen Too Small'.

                                          Mindmap 

What- Food courts in shopping mall, school/ staff canteens, restaurants

When- Breakfast, Lunch, Afternoon Tea, Dinner

Why- Layout of interior, Big kitchen, Arrangement of tables, Cramped space

How- Use standing tables, set time limits, Lighting and colors of the wall to make interior look spacious visually, Bring own lunchbox to school?

Advantages- Easy to clean, Less time needed to clean up, less manual labor

Disadvantages- No place to sit, long queue, noisy, crowded, unpleasant dining experience

                                Example of a canteen being too small
This is a canteen at Mei-ling Middle School during lunch break. Students have to be quick to get here if they don't want to wait in a long queue with an empty stomach.


My team and I chose this topic because we are facing the exact same problem right here in NAFA. Our school canteen is incredibly small and cramp and is not able to cater to many students.


I find this topic quite challenging because we can't possibly break down the walls of a canteen, but instead to work within the space given, or by using the landscape outside the canteen. Either way requires us to think of something that is convenient, easily accessible and to satisfy everyone.