Commercial Architecture April 2017 - 16

restaurant trends

FEATURE

"The technology has progressed, offering more natural colors and good approximations of daylight with less cool or blue tones."

Ken's V I E W

Generation Z, Curated
Experiences, And Lightbulbs

GETTING DESIGN RIGHT

What constitutes good restaurant design? "It's important to understand the
end user as well as the focus of the food. Success comes when a designer
invests in the owner's vision and goals, including who their ideal patron is. It
is critical to create a team including the restaurateur, chef, and designer. An
understanding of both the stated and unstated goals can only be achieved
through collaboration and communication. The real excitement shows up
when the visions from all parties begin to meld and transform into an aesthetic that is highly reflective of the chef's vision and the guest experience.
Successful design deals with comfort and lighting in a way that serves aesthetic and function. It is also critical in today's environment to design for sound.
With harder materials being used today, many designers overlook the overall
noise-generation aspects of the dining experience, such as people eating, conversing, and clanking silverware," said Clay Aurell of AB design studio.
"Restaurant design should foster the enjoyment of one's food and company. They should not be overpowering and take away from that experience.
Visitors should feel comfortable and at ease when they enter a restaurant but
not know why," said Potocnik.
"The most important aspect, always, is to listen to the client and design to
support their goals. It's amazing how often this simple rule is broken, and the
results can cause a restaurant to close its doors before it's had a chance to find
its place in the market," Zinder said.
Finding relevance to the community and type, menu, and service level of
the restaurant are the most critical aspects to creating successful projects, according to Deborah English. "We do this through purpose, story, and style-
the meaningful integration of local culture into the restaurant, connecting
the brand story with the community story, either literal or attitudinally. Finding common ground between the core values and goals of the brand and the
community gives a visual voice to those values inside the physical space."
Culinary tastes and the preference for fresh restaurant experiences continue to evolve. Successful restaurateurs and the designers they engage to fulfill
their visions necessarily are keenly attuned to the ever-changing inclinations
of patrons. CA

ey, millenials, don't look now, but Generation

as I can tell, it sounds like organized tours to local

Z is creeping up behind you, threatening to

attractions. Seriously, what's so special about

steal your influence and cachet. Sure, hoteliers

that? It's just a new name for something that's

and others in the hospitality and design industry

been around for a long while. Anyway, can people

say they're still interested in millenials, but it's not

no longer create their own experiences? Must

going to last forever. You're going to get old and

they have a packaged tour? Maybe so.

irrelevant just like the generations before you, so
stop feeling smug.
I confess I find this obsession with generations

Anyway, hoteliers, good luck with those
millenials and Generation Zs. You certainly have
your work cut out for you.

puzzling. It used to be there were old people-

In other news, Michael Siminovitch, director

parents and grandparents-who just didn't get it.

of the California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC)

And then there were young people, who listened

at the Univ. of California Davis went to Thailand

to music that was just noise, lacked manners, and

and, like Indiana Jones, visited a temple where he

were going to hell in a handbasket. Simple. For the

made an amazing discovery-incandescent and

most part, no one catered to these young people.

candle light! Apparently lost for centuries, or so it

If they got too unruly, they were just sent to reform

seems, these light sources really make stuff look

school with the rest of the juvenile delinquents.

good, the intrepid explorer discovered.

(Wow, there are some pretty dated terms

"Reds, golds, and earthtones were illuminated

in the last paragraph. Even I'm not sure what a

by candle flame and warm incandescent lights,

handbasket is, and my spellchecker isn't sure

saturating colors to perfection," Siminovitch said.

either. However, I'm sure you all know how Google

It was the most color-intense indoor space he's

works.)

ever seen, he commented.

But to continue, something happened, and

Unfortunately, like many things found in

it was called marketing. It was discovered that

ancient temples, there is a curse attached to this

there was money to be made from that noise the

type of lighting. Incandescent lighting is criticized

kids called music, for example, and things just kind

for not being energy efficient, and modern candles

of escalated. There was no turning back. Nothing

not made from natural materials tend to give off

has ever been the same.

soot and toxic fumes.

It must be a difficult task to determine what

But Siminovitch was not to be deterred. He

a younger generation wants-since its usually

resolved to restore high color quality to energy-

an older generation making that determination. It

efficient lighting. Fortunately for him, he had

is said that technology has created a generation

the CLTC help in his quest. The lighting center

that expects more and craves unique experiences

formulated the California Quality Specification that

more than prior generations. I'm not sure how

was adopted by the California Energy Commission

technology has created those expectations,

in 2015. Effective early this year, new homes

Restaurant Trends-
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704hospitality01

although I can appreciate how staring at banal

in California must have lighting that meets the

content on a tiny screen might lead one to crave

standard, according to a UC Davis news release.

National Restaurant Association-
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704hospitality02

something more "authentic," whatever that

Want more information? The resources below are linked on our
website at commercialarchitecturemagazine.com and our digital
magazine at commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/digital/apr2017.

AB Design Studio-commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704hospitality03
CetraRuddy-commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704hospitality04
D L English Design-
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704hospitality05
Joshua Zinder Architecture + Design-
commercialarchitecturemagazine.com/1704hospitality06

COMMERCI A L A RCHI T EC T URE

APRIL 2017

commercialarchitecturemagazine.com

means.

I suppose it will take some time for LEDs that
meet the California Quality Specification to reach

The day will come, some marketing geniuses

where I live, far from the coast. Perhaps there's

predict, when passive experiences are no longer

one of those curated "experience" tours that

enough. Already some folks are saying that

offers a guided tour of a California lightbulb store

"curated experiences are the future of marketing"

that sells the devices. Or I could just order them

(Forbes). On its website, one Arizona hotel boldly

from Amazon. Curate that.

offers exactly that-curated experiences. As far

- Kenneth W. Betz, Senior Editor

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Commercial Architecture April 2017