Quincy House unveiled plans for its dining hall renovation yesterday, giving residents their first taste of more open, inviting eating facility.
The renovation will begin immediately after Commencement, June 10, and conclude the week before school resumes. After Quincy, the Dunster and Mather House dining halls will be the only ones on campus yet to be renovated.
Representatives from Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) and Harvard Real Estate Services (HRES) were on hand last night to guide the Q-crowd through the project displays.
Similar to the dining hall renovations in other Houses, Quincy will reconfigure its kitchen so the serving area can become larger and more open.
The salad bar, which is currently in the middle of the dining room, will move into the expanded serving area. The grill will also move from the kitchen to the this area in order to bring students in closer contact with chefs.
In addition, the renovations will add a new island for entrees.
Kerone P. Walker ’06, a Quincy resident, said that the revamped serving area would be a positive change.
“I like the Winthrop dining hall setup better than ours, and the renovation should make us more like Winthrop,” she said.
HUDS Assistant Director for Residential Dining Robert J. Leandro was enthusiastic about the changes.
“You will be able to scan what you want for lunch,” he said. “Now, you can see food in the servery and decide what to eat, and then you come out to the dining area and see other food and want that. The current system leads to food waste.”
But though Jacob R. Sattelmair ’04 said he looked forward to the new configuration, he worried the main dining room—which will remain structurally the same—will pale in comparison to the improved serving area.
“It’s like you’ll be walking from the lobby of the Ritz to the ballroom of the Holiday Inn,” Sattelmair said. “But overall, I’m very excited.”
The plans also include moving brain break to the Griswold Room—one of two small dining rooms in Quincy—so that students can access drink machines at night.
Other smaller changes will also be made: a charbroil grill will be added to the kitchen, the tray return will be enclosed to bring it up to current fire code regulations and the staff locker rooms will be improved.
The renovations will also make Quincy more environmentally friendly, Leandro said.
Project Manager Jack C. Demedo from HRES said that there would be a new cleaning system that will cut down on the pollution and stench emanating from the kitchen’s grill.
“Cambridge residents are going to thank us—this is going to do a lot of good to their sewer lines,” he said.
The renovation was designed based on input from a committee of Quincy House masters, staff and student residents.
—Staff writer Alan J. Tabak can be reached at tabak@fas.harvard.edu.
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