Are we as a society finally moving past a high school cafeteria epitomized by fluorescent lights, long vinyl tables, and soggy personal pizzas? The kids at Jefferson High in Central-Alameda are. TFO Architecture, which designed the new Oscar De La Hoya Animo Charter School in Boyle Heights, also recently completed a renovation of Jefferson's cafeteria. According to TFO principal William Taylor, kids were barely using the cafeteria, going off campus instead for unhealthy, unsociable lunches. So LAUSD hired TFO to bring the off-campus experience on-campus and make it healthier.
Taylor writes in an email to Curbed:
We were asked by LAUSD to develop a cafeteria remodel that created more of a “street” or food court atmosphere that students could relate to. We removed the existing ceiling to reveal steel trusses that now give the space much more character, created canopies around the perimeter that give a sense of enclosure to new seating, in an effort to generate places where students felt comfortable “hanging out”, designed a new graphics approach using murals, signage, and vignettes, and brought in more natural light and used updated lighting fixtures.
And he adds that food service operators expanded the menu and made it healthier and more appealing. No word yet on whether the students have bit.
· TFO Architecture's Oscar De La Hoya School Nearly Done [Curbed LA]
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