The “creative office” as a typology has flourished over the past 30 years, celebrating the tangible benefits of daylighting, connectivity to nature, and human interaction.  However, commercial kitchens have largely been relegated to anonymous, windowless buildings and basements, where creative chefs toil away in hot smoke-filled rooms with a myopic focus on their knife blades. This project aims to change the way these essential makers experience a day at the office, utilizing architectural design to promote proven measures for well-being, sustainability, and community engagement.

Designed as a prototype flagship facility in an industrial neighborhood in South Austin, this unique project represents the evolution of the food industry. It creates an accessible and affordable food production facility that can serve chefs, bakers, restaurateurs, and food vendors in a purpose-built space designed to foster creativity, collaboration, and well-being.  The project was conceived as two parts. The steel and glass coworking and lobby space is flooded with daylight, and has direct connections to covered outdoor spaces and a community-focused “fairground”.  The production kitchens and warehouse spaces are an exercise in balancing efficiency, flexibility, and comfort.  The result is a highly functional and adaptable building that can transform with the ever-changing trends and technologies that pervade the food industry, all while promoting idea-sharing and collaboration.  

This project was unique in that the business model was evolving in real time as we were designing. The extremely collaborative design process became a vetting tool for the business model, and vice versa, as we worked with the client team, engineering consultants, kitchen experts, and the city permitting office to determine what was feasible.  Halfway through design, COVID-19 struck, restaurants shut down, and remote food preparation and delivery became a major priority, thus elevating the novel concept to the status of critical infrastructure. While the project goals started with a focus on tenant well-being and access, they evolved to include a broader and more urgent community service need as well. 

Traditionally, it takes a huge risk and considerable capital investment to break into the food entrepreneurship industry.  Even more affordable avenues like food trucks have considerable hidden costs and can be extremely limiting in terms of menu and scale.  This project lowers the entry barrier, provides access to a code-compliant food preparation facility, and opens the opportunity to large groups of would-be chefs and makers who otherwise might not have the resources to pursue their calling.

Planned to be the first location of many, post-occupancy evaluations of the building’s success are extensive and ongoing.   The most positive testament to its success has been the overwhelming response of tenants, who speak to the conditions of their previous spaces, and how valuable it is to have a well-designed daylit space – something atypical in the commercial kitchen world.  The building was fully leased before opening day, with many of those tenants leaving competitor spaces seeking a better working environment.