David Rockwell and his team at Rockwell Group proposed an open streets initiative, a template for outdoor dining, in order to help bars and restaurants reopen post-pandemic. The design strategies illustrate practical solutions to make everyone feel safe.
The set of kit proposes tools to enhance the outdoor dining experience. In fact, the designer suggests using the pavement and streets, opening them for restaurants to expand their realm and safely reopen. In fact, in order to ensure a proper transition into post COVID-19, he states that “This includes, first and foremost, creating a safe place for restaurant workers and guests, and better utilizing space within and outside restaurants during this period of social distancing, which will continue to evolve”.
The adaptable kit of parts consists of four main elements: base module, service and sanitation, sidewalk decks, and street fencing. Including five scales of intervention, from minimal to more complex and detailed, the strategies can be implemented for different locations and sidewalk and street conditions. Cost-effective for the city and restaurant owners, the interventions can. also, provide potential revenue to offset costs.
Rockwell, in discussion with restaurant operators and staff, and others active in the larger restaurant business, in New York “about how they can help create dining spaces that meet the needs of restaurants and their employees, diners, and the city”, has generated an iteration for Melba, a corner restaurant in Harlem, New York.
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