When Emory University in Atlanta was planning a new student center and dining hall, its goal was to take the college cafeteria into the future and provide a sense of community. The resulting Dobbs Common Table is built to do just that.
“The dining hall is designed around a highway that weaves throughout the space and draws students into different ‘neighborhoods,’ each with a unique identity,” says Amy Stevenson of MHTN Architects, designers of the eatery and student center.
The space is split into 10 sections, each representing an iconic Atlanta neighborhood, such as Little Five Points and Warehouse. Each segment is a hub for a separate type of global cuisine representative of the city’s diverse culinary culture.
Students can choose from Five & Spice, an Asian-inspired concept with a tandoori oven and wok; Flat Iron, equipped with a Mongolian grill and a flat-top grill that can convert from stir-fries one day to a taqueria or omelet station another; 605 Kitchen, which houses a large rotisserie; and Stem to Root, a plant-based station focused on vegetable cookery.
Halal, kosher and gluten-free stations are also available.
Each station in the 22,300 square-foot-space is “chef served” in keeping with pandemic safety protocols, but MHTN believes this will be the wave of the future as sanitation becomes a design priority.
“Most residential dining facilities at universities feel like massive mess halls, but we wanted Dobbs Common Table to feel more like a place to build community,” says Dave Fuhrman, senior director of operations in Emory’s Division of Campus Life. It’s also a place where faculty and staff can feel comfortable bringing guests, he adds. Even the name “common table” reflects the community feeling.
The kitchen was built below ground and a patio was constructed on its roof to provide space for outdoor dining. Randy Knight, the lead MHTN architect on the project, also designed large windows into the building so diners can watch the prep in both the kitchen and servery from inside and outside.
Dobbs Common Table contracts with Bon Appetit Management and is guided by the company’s sustainability and local sourcing ethos. “We have a dedicated sustainable food committee made up of students and operators to adhere to the standards,” says Chad Sunstein, Emory’s director of dining. “We purchase an enormous amount of food locally, which means sourcing from the eight contiguous states around Georgia.”
Emory’s organic farm, located 36 miles east on its Oxford College campus, also provides produce in season.
This spring, about 1,800 students are on campus, far fewer than the usual 4,500, so some dining hall stations have been condensed to speed service and keep lines moving, says Fuhrman. All furniture in Dobbs Common Table has been removed to facilitate social distancing—the space usually seats 780. Students grab their food and go elsewhere to eat, including the outdoor patio.
Since the space is flexible, the team was able to introduce a new station during COVID called Luncheonette, which offers burgers grilled to order, wings and specialty sandwiches. “We couldn’t have done this pre-COVID when all the students were on campus,” says Fuhrman.
As of now, Emory is planning for a relatively normal fall, Fuhrman adds. He expects the stations to remain chef-attended but is not ruling out the return of self-serve salad bars and dessert bars sometime in the distant future.
Dobbs Common Table has received a very positive response from the university population, and Fuhrman sees it as a model for other colleges to replicate. “More colleges realize that campus dining must be viewed as a way to build community,” he says. “Creating a dining hall with a ‘restaurant look’ is a way to achieve this goal.”