Sharples Dining Hall, built in 1964, became too small to comfortably accommodate the growing student body at Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Penn. The leadership team wanted a solution to build community, enhance the dining experience for students, faculty and staff, and support Swarthmore’s vision of achieving carbon neutrality by 2035.

The two-part project began in 2018 with a new all-you-care-to-eat dining center that fits into a larger initiative that includes a commons space. The building houses a kitchen, dining hall and administrative offices. During construction, Sharples Dining Hall remained open to provide continuous foodservice. The newly named Dining Center opened on Oct. 16, 2022.

Part two of the project began in October 2022 and was completed Feb. 26, 2024. This involved an adaptative reuse of the existing dining hall into Sharples Commons, which serves as a campus community space with meeting and gathering areas for students, faculty and staff. This space also houses Essie’s Corner, a retail cafe, and The Crumb Café, a student-run late-night operation. The two buildings connect through corridors. Part two was completed on Feb. 26, 2024. Sharples Commons connects to the dining hall through a corridor.

“The new Dining Center, along with its connection to the Sharples Commons, has become a significant catalyst for creating a dynamic, vibrant multifunctional environment for students, faculty and staff,” says Anthony Coschignano, associate vice president for Campus Services. “This breaks down the barriers between students and staff, as the staff members are now positioned to engage directly with students in ways that promote conversation, support and a sense of belonging. This connection cultivates a warm, approachable vibe where all campus community members feel comfortable and valued.”

Photos by Kat Kendon Photography

The transparency of the food preparation process is another key aspect of this transformation. “Being able to watch food being made not only highlights the skill and dedication of the kitchen staff but also reassures students about the quality and freshness of the food they’re eating,” Coschignano says. “It creates a sense of trust and authenticity, and students know that meals are prepared with care and attention to detail. This openness elevates the dining experience, encourages students to make more informed choices about what they eat, and allows them to get to know our excellent dining staff on a daily basis.”

The project conception and design involved more than 500 students from a cross-section of class years participating in in-person interviews, in-depth workshops and focus group discussions, all centering on foodservice, sustainability and campus engineering. 

“These engagement exercises gave the design team ample opportunity to interact with a large portion of the student body and numerous faculty and staff, and revealed students’ need for a place of refuge from the rigors of their academic schedules and a place to socialize without pressure,” says Tarah Schroeder, FCSI, LEED AP, vice president, Ricca Design Studios, Greenwood Village, Colo.

“Through this engagement, we leveraged our proprietary methodology, VALUES (Viewing Architecture through the Lens of User Experience and Sustainability) to identify key priorities, reevaluate the college’s sustainability framework and arrive at guiding principles for the new Dining and Community Commons,” says Benjamin Strain, AIA, LEED AP, principal and higher education design leader at DLR Group. 

The three guiding principles Strain references are community-building to foster connection, collaboration and resource-sharing among students and between students and faculty and staff; creating welcoming, inclusive and accessible resources for all community members; and sustainability to embody Swarthmore’s commitment to sustainable environmental practices. Swarthmore College’s vision to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 became an initiative called To Zero
by 2035. 

DLR Group worked in collaboration with architect Rayford W. Law, AIA, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, to reimagine the longstanding dining facility with a modern solution that accommodates the college’s growing student body and aligns with its commitment to sustainability.

“This is the largest carbon neutral and Living Building Challenge dining facility in the country,” Schroeder says. “It has become a benchmark for all colleges and universities looking to pursue all-electric and carbon-neutral facilities.”

Field of Greens greets guests as they arrive. Free Zone maintains a separate cooking environment for allergen-free menu items.

The Ricca Design team created an energy benchmark report for foodservice equipment with important EUI (energy use intensity) goals of the Living Building Challenge at the onset of the project.

The foodservice operation provides students and community members with fresh, local food representing diverse cultural traditions, and promotes healthy menu choices and dietary accommodations through 10 food platforms, including allergy-aware, vegan and international. 

The design also increased seating capacity and flexible seating arrangements, while positioning outdoor seating adjacent to the dining center. In addition, the design improved catering and event spaces, as well as private meeting spaces for breakfast, lunch and dinner engagements. Service hours were expanded to include late-night dining options. A teaching kitchen also brings a new dimension to the dining program.

Among the many notable sustainability related features, this is a net zero waste project and diverts all food waste from going to a landfill, Schroeder says. “Operational strategies have been implemented to reduce pre-consumer and post-consumer waste and there is a focus on food recovery through community partnerships. Swarthmore’s Zero Waste Working Group supports these efforts by educating the campus community about the dining hall composting program where food waste is separated at the source using a remote pulper/extractor system.”

The kitchen also uses only electric equipment, some of which requires specific training. “During the design phase, the Ricca team arranged training for the then-chef to become familiar with the induction ranges prior to the dining hall opening. A combi oven was also purchased in advance to give the team an opportunity to learn and experiment with the unit ahead of time. However, the onset of COVID-19 disrupted travel and training plans during construction. As a result, combined with new staff and a fast-tracked opening schedule, the dining team had limited time to fully prepare for operations. We basically moved from our old dining center to the new one in seven days,” says Linda McDougall, director of dining. “That was a very big challenge for us.”

A month after the new dining facility opened, Executive Chef Thomas Ramsey arrived at Swarthmore; he had minimal experience working with electric equipment. To help overcome this, he reached out to manufacturers asking them to provide as much training as possible for himself and the staff. Ramsey continues to ask for assistance as necessary. “Most cooks are used to working with gas and you can see how hot the flame gets as you cook something on a range, for example,” he says. “With electricity you can’t walk away from it because you can easily burn the food if you don’t keep a watch on it.”

Another challenge for staff was getting comfortable with being front facing with guests. “In our previous location all of our production and cooking was done behind walls and doors,” McDougall says. “Now we have the opportunity to showcase the skills of the culinary team and they also get to interact with the guests.” 

Labor issues also presented challenges due to COVID-19. “We had to utilize many temp employees, which was not very easy because of the inconsistency in who was sent, their skill levels and lack of familiarity with our operation,” McDougall says. “We are pleased to say that effective March 24, we became fully staffed.”

Back of the House 

Food and supplies deliveries arrive at the loading dock on the main level of the dining hall, hidden from the student experience and a main pathway of the building. Staff have a separate entrance nearby and offices, breakrooms and meeting spaces reside behind the main kitchen.

The loading dock includes bays for tractor trailer deliveries, as well as a dumpster for incinerator trash and a recycle dumpster. Space immediately off the dock includes two pulper extractors, fresh oil and waste oil, scales for reading compost, a can washer and a power washer. 

Just off the loading dock, two elevators connect the back of the house and front of the house and allow staff’s easy transport of goods, waste and people between the basement and two levels above. “There are separate paths for waste flowing out of the building and for food products and deliveries coming into the building that extend through all levels of the three-story dining hall,” Schroeder says.

After delivery, staff take bulk products to the freight elevator, which connects to the lower-level bulk storage space, which holds dry storage, a walk-in cooler and a walk-in freezer.

Staff also take menu ingredients to the main kitchen and catering areas and place them in two walk-in coolers, one walk-in freezer and dry storage. In addition, they take some menu ingredients directly to the day storage for catering and the kitchen, which are located near hot and cold production. They may also take a few menu items directly to front-of-the-house platforms that also contain cold and adjacent dry storage. For instance, walk-in coolers that sit closer to the platforms include those in Daily Kneads, World Flavor, The Classics and Free Zone. Level two platforms share dry, cold and freezer storage, though Vegan & Verdant has its own walk-in cooler and dry storage.

Equipment in the back-of-the-house storage areas includes a centralized refrigeration rack, can racks, dunnage racks, pallet staging and shelving units.

“Because we prepare almost every menu item from scratch, we receive deliveries five days a week and every so often on a sixth day,” Ramsey says. “We usually prep all the ingredients and some menu items two to three days ahead of serving and use a four-week menu cycle so we’re ready for whatever conditions happen.”

The cold production space consists of two work areas: meat prep and produce prep. Convenience outlets allow the dining team to reposition countertop equipment as necessary. Equipment in the cold prep areas include a slicer, buffalo chopper, a 60-quart mixer, a food processor, mobile worktables, worktables with sinks and retractable drop cords.

A back-to-back cookline handles both bulk production for the dining hall, as well as cooking for the catering program. Staff use bulk hot production in the back of the house for more widely used menu items served at the platforms and catered events. Equipment includes two tilt kettles, a pressurized tilt skillet, a future rotisserie with a supporting table, two double convection ovens, a combi oven, and a worktable with sinks.

Catering production in the main production kitchen contains hot boxes, mobile tables, a worktable with a sink, a roll-in combi oven, a steamer, a griddle, a charbroiler, an induction range, fryers, an ice machine, a coffee machine and a blast chiller.

Windows that allow natural light into the facility represent an important facet of the design. Connection between the offices and open kitchen was also important for ease of traffic and communication, Schroeder says. 

Verdant & Vegan offers a selection of fresh vegetables as well as vegan and vegetarian options.

Front of the House 

Production also occurs at the individual platforms. “The design was completed pre-pandemic with the intent that each platform be able to function on its own as needed with team members able to move easily between concepts,” Schroeder says. “The two-level servery allows staffing and production to ramp up and down depending on the daypart for efficient use of labor.”

Students and other dining guests can get to-go containers before they enter the dining hall. Each platform also has plates set on countertops, with undercounter space for dish dollies to easily refill, depending on if it is full-service or self-service.

Platform locations were intentional. “An open kitchen was important to the campus to juxtapose against their previously hidden back of the house,” Schroeder says.

For example, on the first level, guests see fresh salads and greens at Field of Greens when they first enter. “Each level of dining offers a unique experience with a variety of options, allowing guests to enjoy a full range of choices without needing to travel between floors, though they may be drawn to explore specific concepts,” Schroeder says.

Platforms also were designed to allow for staff to free-flow between concepts as well as between the front of the house and back of the house. “This also limits island hoods for energy efficiency and helps balance out staffing at made-to-order stations,” Schroeder says.

Designers also located Free Zone so it has direct access to the loading dock, while not hiding it either. This allows allergen-aware students to have a central experience while feeling safe.

“Process-based platforms are important to allow for a changing menu,” Schroeder says. “There are concepts for each station, however, the equipment is such that the menu can change daily/weekly.”

The Teaching Kitchen encourages chefs to interact with students, faculty and guests to learn more about culinary arts. Photo by Laurence Kesterson, Swarthmore College

First-Level Platforms

Daily Kneads, a full-service bakery, provides baked goods for catering and all platforms. Staff use the full array of equipment, including a walk-in cooler, 20-quart and 60-quart mixers, an induction range and a combi oven to bake cookies, cakes, pies, and other sweets. A branded self-serve station offers an assortment of ice creams.

World Flavor offers a variety of cuisines, including American, Asian, Italian, Greek, Indian and Caribbean. Chefs encourage guests to share favorite family recipes that platforms may be able to feature. Staff use combi ovens to prepare menu items such as pork sausage and warm mushroom ravioli, a steamer, a range to hold sauces, a griddle for fried rice and fryers for french fries. Staff also use woks to cook stir-fries and hold sauces.

Field of Greens features a build-your-own salad bar with a multitude of fresh toppings, accompanied by a selection of seasonal vegetables and favorite salad dressings. Staff also prepare specialty salads for this platform. Field of Greens contains a larger cold production space so that produce can be prepared on a large butcher block mobile table in front of students eating at the salad station.

The Classics contains two flattop griddles, a range, a double fryer and a small convection oven. Staff, however, prepare the majority of the platform’s traditional menu items, such as meatloaf, baked chicken, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, in the back of the house and bring them forward for service in warm wells. 

Free Zone features foods free of the top nine allergens, including sesame. Equipment here supports only this platform to avoid cross-contamination with menu items at other platforms. Equipment includes a small combi oven, a flattop, a fryer, a range, and a high-speed pizza oven. The platform also contains a refrigerator, a freezer and purple-colored utensils. 

Fired Up showcases a hearth oven that serves as the centerpiece of the Dining Center. “This allows us to produce nearly 60 to 80 pies daily in four varieties,” Ramsey says. Guests can order from a selection of meat, vegetarian and vegan pizza options. A deli station offers an assortment of lunch meats and cheeses and condiments. The platform’s menu also features house-made soups made in the back of the house.

Daily Kneads offers baked goods for platforms and catering. The Classics features traditional menu items such as meatloaf, baked chicken, mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese. Photo by Brad Nicol

Second-Level Platforms

Staff at Grillin’ Out use a flattop and two griddles to cook menu items such as burgers, grilled chicken sandwiches, specialty sandwiches and hot dogs. They use fryers to cook french fries. Staff also make eggs to-order on the flattop griddle.

Verdant & Vegan offers a selection of fresh vegetables as well as chef-made vegan and vegetarian items. Staff use two combi ovens, a flattop griddle, a vertical grill for gyros, two fryers and a pasta extruder. 

Spice of Life features a selection of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines and highlights halal menu items. This platform shares equipment with Verdant & Vegan.

Also on this level, a teaching kitchen gives chefs opportunities to introduce students, faculty and staff to new products and culinary techniques. Equipment includes a convection oven, a range, a flattop, a refrigerated rail and a hot holding box. The area can seat 25 people.

“I did an 8-week class for 12 on canning and fermentation,” Ramsey says. Ramsey and Lauren White, sous chef, made a training video that introduces novice users of the space on food safety, knife safety, use of equipment and sanitation and clean up. Those approved to use the space must watch the video. The teaching kitchen is available Monday through Friday from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Recently a student group booked the space to use during Ramadan. Vendors also come in to show new products.

Across the corridor in Sharples Commons, Essie’s Corner, a retail offering, remains open until 8 p.m. It also contains all electric equipment, including two high-speed microwave ovens, a countertop combi oven, a countertop ventless pizza oven and a panini grill. The menu features rice bowls, quesadillas, sandwiches and breaded chicken. The space also contains a walk-in cooler, a walk-in freezer, dry storage, clean dish storage, a three-compartment sink, air screens, and countertop cold wells.

The student-run The Crumb Café contains refrigerators, an air fryer, a high-speed oven, a tabletop convection oven, slushy machine, milkshake machine, undercounter dish machine and a pot wash sink.

Combi ovens, kettles and a flattop griddle support back-of-the-house production.

Waste and Dishwashing

When the project opened, a drop-off station resided on the upper level for dirty dishes. “In practice, it is not needed and has been converted to storage for catering small wares,” Schroeder says. “The students easily bring their dirty dishes back downstairs to the dish drop because the dish drop is located near the exit. However, it is designed to be hidden so the dish room isn’t the first thing that students see when they walk in the door, instead they see the salad station.”

Waste also travels down the elevator from the stations to two different dish rooms. One contains a single flight-type dish machine that handles the students’ plates and wares. This dish room also includes a custom tall and narrow accumulator, pulper, floor troughs, silverware sorting, and clean dish storage. All the various platforms also contain clean dish storage.

Another kitchen/catering warewashing space contains an agitator, a three-compartment sink and a conveyor machine, which allows for a more streamlined dish room flow. This area also includes clean dish storage and a soiled drop with a disposer/pulper connected to the remote extractor.

As the new dining center and commons become more familiar to students, faculty and staff, they are taking advantage of the menu options. Staff continuously learn how to use electric equipment to its fullest potential. The project serves as a stellar example of how to set an intention for the greater good and follow through. 

Combi ovens bake bread, cookies and other baked goods at Daily Kneads.

About the Project

• Opened: Oct. 16, 2022; Sharples Commons opened February 26, 2024
• Scope of project: Dining and Community Commons includes Dining Center, an all-you-care-to-eat dining hall with a kitchen, a bakery, 10 food platforms on two levels, plus a teaching kitchen; and in Sharples Commons, a late-night cafe and a retail food option. 
• Website: swarthmore.edu
• Size: 40,000 sq. ft., plus 30,000 sq. ft. renovation of Sharples Commons
• Seats: 783 seats: 455 seats on first floor and 328 seats on the second floor.
  A separate patio on the first floor seats 50.
• Hours: Dining Hall: 7 a.m. until 9 p.m.; Essie’s Corner, 8 a.m. until 8 p.m.
  (closed weekends)
• Average check: 
  • Dining Center: $14.52 
  • Essie’s Corner: $6.44 
• Daily transactions/covers: 
  • Dining Center: 1,969 to 2,350
  • Essie’s Corner: 158 to 225
• Total dining annual sales: $15.55 million
• Total annual sales, Dining Center: $12.7 million
• Menu concepts: 
  • First Level:
    • Field of Greens (salad bar)
    • Free Zone (free of top food allergens)
    • World Flavor (breakfast service and international cuisine, lunch & dinner)
    • The Classics (homestyle cooking)
    • Daily Kneads (bakery)
    • Fired Up (homemade pizza, deli and soups)
  • Second Level:
    • Vegan & Verdant (vegan/vegetarian) 
    • Spice of Life (Mediterranean cuisine)
    • Grillin’ Out (grilled food)
    • Teaching kitchen & 4 private dining rooms 
• Staff: 125
• Total project cost: $55 million
• Equipment investment: $3.8 million 

To Zero by 2035

• Sustainable practices include: 
• A fully electric kitchen, including induction cookers
• Energy-Star rated equipment
• Plug-and-play equipment 
• Photovoltaic rooftop solar panel system
• Mass timber structural system (carbon sequestration) 
• Biophilic design with large expanses of glass in the mass timber
• Radiant in-floor heating and cooling
• Use of Living Building Challenge’s Red List-free materials
• Stormwater management and recapture, including rainwater harvesting
• A geoexchange energy plant in the basement
• Meadow area and food gardens
• Improved compost collection
• Trayless dining

Key Players

• Owner: Swarthmore College
• Associate vice president for Campus Services: Anthony Coschignano
• Director, Dining Services: Linda McDougall
• Associate director: Rich Green
• Executive chef: Thomas Ramsey
• Sous chef: Lauren White
• Retail manager: Tim Smith
• Associate vice president, Sustainable Facilities Operations: Andy Feick
• ADA compliance program manager/senior project manager: Susan Smythe
• Architects: DLR Group: Stuart Rothenberger, AIA, LEED AP, global higher education leader, senior principal; Prem Sundharam, AIA, CEM, chief climate officer, senior principal; Benjamin Strain, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, higher education design leader, principal; Cory Clippinger, AIA, NCARB, higher education research leader, senior associate, AIA 
• Architect: Rayford Law, AIA NCARB LEED AP BD+C, RWL Architecture & Planning, Boston
• Planning/programming/ lighting design: DLR Group
• MEP engineer: DLR Group
• Interior design: DLR Group: Stephanie Spingler, NCIDQ, WELL AP, senior interior designer
• Foodservice design: Ricca Design Studios, Greenwood Village, Colo.; Tarah Schroeder, FCSI, LEED AP, vice president; Lona Homersham, director; Amanda Perlmutter, director
• Foodservice planning: Envision Strategies: Rob White, president, Envision Strategies, New Cumberland, Penn.
• Contractor: Warfel Construction Company: Alex Byard, EIT, LEED Green Associate, project manager; Reed Shuttle, project engineer; Maxine Williams; Eric Kuklentz
• Kitchen equipment contractor: Clark Foodservice Equipment, Lancaster, Penn.: Ryan Tiburtini, sales executive; Justin Cisney, project manager lead; Jesse Hudock, project manager; Eric Haws, site supervisory; Steve Young, field coordinator
• Structural engineer: O’Donnell & Naccarato Structural Engineers, New York
• Civil engineer: Langan, New York
• Landscape architecture: Jonathan Alderson Landscape Architects, Ardmore, Penn.
• Geoexchange plant engineer: Introba Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia