As Whitman College's voluminous dining hall draws hordes of hungry students, the renovated Rocky-Mathey dining facilities have also seen a drastic upswing in mealtime traffic.
Both locations aim to emulate the food court in Frist Campus Center, with a marketplace-style layout and a wider selection of foods. The merged Rocky-Mathey servery features dedicated stations for entrees, grill items, salads, pizza and pasta.
The improvements are part of a larger push to foster a distinct sense of community in each residential college, with chefs at each dining hall crafting a new menu every day.
Aside from changing culinary offerings, the renovation of the Rocky and Mathey dining halls sought to improve the atmosphere for meals. "The furniture was refurbished, and we improved lighting," said Stuart Orefice, director of dining services. Several new chandeliers were also installed.
"It was a very substantial project," said Chad Klaus, the general manager for services, who has helped supervise the renovations.
"We started in the summer of 2006 ... but the intensive work was over the summer. When you include the common room renovations, [the project] has been going on for three to four years."
Klaus added that more renovations are planned for the dining halls, including the addition of acoustic panels on the walls to reduce echoes, as well as carpeting several locations.
Rocky and Mathey were not the only residential colleges renovated during the summer. Parts of Forbes College, including the lobby, lounge and seminar rooms, were refreshed, and carpet was added to some of the corridors.
More campus renovations are planned. Butler and Wilson dining hall offerings will be brought up to speed with those of Rocky, Mathey and Whitman. A two-year project will unite the Wilcox and Wu serveries and improve the dining rooms there.
"Our current plan is to do it over two summers," Klaus said. "This summer we'll build the infrastructure for a combined servery, and over the next summer we'll combine the servery for the two."
The renovations will "have a little more whimsical look" than the current design, he added.
The plans may evolve before construction, however. At Rocky-Mathey, the remodeled dining halls depart from the original architect's concept in a few ways, Klaus said.
"We originally planned a larger diversity of seating types, with round tables, booth seating and different-sized tables. If you look at Whitman, that's similar to what we had planned." But student pressure to retain the Gothic atmosphere of the dining halls, he said, led the University to drop this aspect of the plan.
Student reaction to the renovations in Rocky-Mathey were mixed. "It looks great, but it's really inefficient," Andrew Weintraub '10 said, citing the recent crowding during mealtimes.
Klaus said the crowding is "probably a temporary thing." The hall, he added, "is like a new pair of shoes: It looks great, but it will take a week or two before it really feels comfortable for everyone."
"We'll adjust, and the students will adjust," he added.
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