The National Museum of African American History & Culture, the latest addition to the Smithsonian Institution. Philip Freelon and David Adjaye, winners of the international competition to design this new museum on the National Mall, have ensured that first-rate dining can be part of the visitor’s experience within their eye-catching edifice.
This once-crumbling, historic psychiatric facility was replaced by a $78 million, state-of-the-art hospital for which HOPKINS designed a 12,000 square foot central food preparation kitchen and retherm kitchens for each residential unit. Now patients can have breakfast and dinner in their “homes” and lunch “at work” in the treatment mall.
Because poor diet and obesity are causal factors for various forms of cancer and many other diseases, when the National Cancer Institute, was given an opportunity to plan its first in-house cafeteria, they took the project very seriously. HOPKINS was brought in to perform an extensive planning effort. NCI wanted to provide an environment in which visitors and staff could make optimal food choices, model behaviors that reduce risk for cancer and other diseases, and increase wellness. The healthy choice was to be the easy choice.
For the new Kohn Pedersen Fox building, HOPKINS designed a small cafe in the atrium’s winter garden to serve students that commute in the evening as well as full-time students during the day. A colloquium kitchen supports events whether catered by the cafe operator or by commercial enterprises.