4SPACE Restaurant Design Transformation. We’ve been exploring adaptable and portable designs that enable organically safe spaces for restaurant interiors giving them additional and transformable space to adapt social distancing.
Let’s face it: we really do not know how this catastrophe will play out, and therefore the implications to restaurant design remain just as undefined and a moving target for the foreseeable future.
To successfully navigate such a future, designers will need to take a transformational approach, one that embraces the spirit of continuous improvement and evolution, as the market evolves into the new normal.
Pre-COVID, it was recommended that restaurants give each seated diner a 1.4 square meters of space. During the pandemic however, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended this to be increased to 2.5 square meters per diner.
We’ve seen Restaurant Design Transformation done in a wrong way like big plexiglass boxes blocking people in, this can cause fear and claustrophobia. Dining out should be a great customer experience and diners should organically feel safe amidst the pandemic. We should provide a safe flow in the space without people feeling suffocated. Hospitality is about emotions, cultures, and scenes of happiness.
In this Italian restaurant that we at 4SPACE are working on, we utilize designs and materials that can be adapted to provide different layout planning space by using arched colored glass partitions which you can move and slide to create different spaces in between. We used materials that withstand constant sanitation like glass, steel and abrasion resistance surfaces.
The ability to forget is in human nature and getting back to normality is a matter of time, so concurrently we want to create a lovely space which is safe and that will last for years. The last thing we want is an over conscious costly design that causes fear or anxiety.
Indeed, the pandemic will, in fact, come to an end one day. As the world progresses to this end, Restaurant Design Transformation will also have to evolve and continually improve and remain relevant. We believe that it is key to have a “transformational” philosophy and “continuous development”. An evolution approach and mentality, as we begin the journey out of the current pandemic.
There’s already a lot of stress in the air. Let’s design relaxed and enjoyable spaces yet be safe and sustainable.
