During dinner hours in Mather last night, design team members revealed plans for the house’s dining hall renovations, set to be completed this summer.
Although it might often be referred to as the “barracks,” Mather House will serve its diners in a way more befitting of nobility than mere soldiers next year.
In an informal presentation held during Mather’s dinner hours last night, design team members unveiled plans for a renovated dining hall, showing a serving area complete with islands for different types of food, tiled walls, and a grill waiting area complete with bar stools.
The renovation to Mather’s kitchen and servery and the concurrent remodeling of Dunster House will be completed this summer, marking the final stage of the multi-year series of house dining area renovations.
The architectural plans reveal a completely remodeled serving area for the house, which “will reflect the wealth of knowledge we gained from renovating the other houses,” said Assistant Residential Dining Director of Harvard University Dining Services (HUDS) Robert J. Leandro.
While the Mather serving area will be designed in a way similar to that of Quincy House, the aesthetic plans were “taken from the building,” Leandro said.
Mather House, which was built in 1970 and is Harvard’s newest house, has architecture unique to the University, composed primarily of steel, glass, and concrete.
Mather House Co-Master Leigh Hafrey, who served on the team that helped design the space, emphasized the efforts taken to reflect the building’s dependence on exterior light and color in the project.
“The servery will feature a lot of wood and green and blue tones in the tiles and glass to enhance the sense that Mather leads us from the inside to the outside,” Hafrey said.
The redesigned layout of the servery will significantly increase its size. This will mean a great deal of relief for Mather residents, said House Council Co-Chair Jessica L. Jones ’06.
“Our servery is really crowded right now and is hard to navigate,” Jones said. “The renovation will certainly make the food a lot easier to get and nicer to look at.”
While the actual dining hall will remain relatively untouched in the process, Mather’s brain-break area will be relocated to a part of the eating area where people can access both food and drinks all night.
In addition, some tile from the servery will be extended into the hall, a new dish conveyor belt will be added, and the floor will be recarpeted.
The renovation will also improve and expand the kitchen that serves both Mather and Dunster dining halls.
Though the shared kitchen is the main reason for the simultaneous renovations, Leandro said “their designs are completely different and unique to each house.”
Dunster, with its more traditional atmosphere, will feature a servery very similar to a butler’s pantry, said Head Architect Sarah Michelman.
