THESIS

THE EXPLORATION OF THE ART OF CREATION AND PREPARATION OF FOOD IN A CULINARY LABORATORY

JENNIFER MARIE MANNELLI Department of Interior Design

In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the Degree of Master of Art Corcoran College of Art and Design Washington, DC Spring 2009 Corcoran College of Art and Design

17 May, 2009

WE HEREBY RECOMMEND THAT THE THESIS PREPARED UNDER OUT SUPERVISION BY JENNIFER MANNELLI ENTITLED THE EXPLORATION OF THE ART OF CREATION AND PREPARATION OF FOOD IN A CULINARY LABORATORY BE ACCEPTED AS FULFILLING, IN PART, REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ART IN INTERIOR DESIGN.

Graduate Thesis Committee:

(Signature of Student)

Jennifer Mannelli (Print Name of Student)

(Signature of Advisor)

Carissa Gavin (Print Name of Advisor)

(Signature of Advisor)

(Print Name of Advisor)

(Signature of Department Chair)

(Print Name of Department Chair)

ii

The Exploration of the Art of Creation and Preparation in a Culinary Laboratory

Lab Overview...... 2

Structure of the Laboratory...... 3

Case Study: elBulli...... 6

Case Study: French Laundry...... 10

Case Study: Alinea...... 13

The Site...... 16

The Neighborhood...... 17

The Culinary Laboratory...... 22

The Workshop...... 22

The Visual Kitchen...... 25

Tasting Area...... 26

Conclusion ...... 27

Program...... 28

Works Cited...... 31 The Exploration of the Art of Creation and Preparation in a Culinary

Laboratory

As our lives become more busy, nomadic, and less hedonistic through an inability to attach oneself to an experience of pleasure, the idea of food and its consumption has taken on many different roles. The renaissance of interest in urban life, has brought about an increase of Americans eating out. There are new restaurants everywhere; restaurants with tricks, great food, mediocre food, slow food, fast food, food food. Truss; A Culinary Laboratory reaches beyond the idea of standard restaurant establishments through exploring its initial concepts of the exploring the art of creation and preparation of a meal.

Lab Overview

The pleasure of a meal does not begin with eating, nor even with the presentation, it also does not end with the story of its produce. It begins with the story of where the food came from, its production, how it relates to the land, the seasons, and the history. This food is the most basic and the most important tool of the chef. The meal, what is served to the receivers, begins with an idea, a concept of what will be created. The Culinary Laboratory is an incubator for this entire process of the meal, a space for creation, experiments

(The Workshop), and a space for it to be experienced by the guests (The Visual

Kitchen and Tasting Area). These spaces allow up-and-coming chefs to define their reach, define their “personality of cuisine” in an environment that not only advocates creativity, but thrives on the concept both economically and socially.

The draw of seasonal menus with different chefs presenting, is what draws the customer back throughout the year. It allows the guests to get in touch with the

2 food preparation and the experience of the chef through the visual connection and proximity. The interaction with the kitchen creates a new experience of eating, a more evocative, ritual-oriented experience takes them on the full journey of conceptualizing, preparing, and consuming a meal, bringing an enhancement of preparation to the chef/artist and and enhancement of savor/ pleasure to the receiver/eater.

Structure of the Laboratory

The structure of the laboratory consists of one renowned executive chef who oversees a large team of experienced chefs from which he selects one each season to act as featured chef within the restaurant. This structure gives emerging chefs a platform to define and express their style.

The chefs have access to the workshop/studio where they work in collaboration with other chefs to discover and define their own individual styles.

As with most successful creative people, chefs surround themselves with other talented people while also maintaining standards of expression. These other chefs are then challenged to define their own reach as a chef and the workshop provides a space to find their voice. These are experienced chefs that know their craft and are well trained with knowledge of the fundamentals of cooking and presenting food. The lab is simply and incubator for their ideas. This workshop space provides an open kitchen for experiments and collaboration, a library space for documentation, and research, and a table for team/group/ individual meals for research and interaction.

The second part of the lab is the restaurant or Tasting Room. This is a place where the customer comes for a new experience of eating with the

3 knowledge that it will continue to be a new experience every time they visit. In the restaurant I propose, the Back of the House becomes the Front of the House

This allows for the interaction between the kitchen and the guest which enhances the preparation and dining experience, creating a fully sensory experience for the creators and the participants. Being able to experience the preparation creates a connection among the producer, chef/artist, server/ interpreter, and diner/eater/experiencer and to enhance the overall experience for who participates. When the customer enters the space, their first view is of the wine wall that incorporates the original crane of the building. The wine wall provides not only wine storage for the facility, but also for urban dwellers who often have to go outside of the city to store their wine. Participants in the formal wine storage also have access to the wine room which also wraps around the visual kitchen. Attached to the wine wall is the bar and lounge which provides waiting space before the meal. From the bar, the guests walk through the wine wall where they dine in the tasting room. This tasting room includes both the visual kitchen and dining space.

This experience also creates a sociability from sharing the experience together. As the servers are integral to the restaurant process, their knowledge and enthusiasm of the food is essential. Implicit in theses meals is an emphasis on the food, with both local and exotic influences and the enjoyment of partaking in such a sensitively cultivated and prepared meal. The understanding of the story will influence the dining experience and raise it to a new level.

In the first part of my research, I have identified three restaurants and treated them as case studies, exploring their value as precedents for my project.

4 Though the interiors have value, it the the cuisine, the chefs, and the emphasis on the preparation of the food and how it affects the experience of the visitor is what makes them important to the concept of the proposed space.

5 Case Study: elBulli

Chef: Ferran Adrià

Front of House: Juli Soler

Location: Cala Montjoli, Rosas, Spain

Considered to be the most innovative restaurant in the world today, elBulli is famous around the world for its avant-garde cuisine. A cuisine essentially invented by Adrià called “Alta Cocina.” 1 Alta Cocina is a cuisine that evolved from haute cuisine where the emphasis is on presentation and small and intense dishes are highlighted, but with an emphasis on constant creativity and evolution of taste, presentation, and the entire sensory experience of eating.

Every year there is overwhelmingly demand for a reservation for the limited services open throughout the year. Each seating is estimated to be about 4 hours long. About 2 million request tables and only 8,000 get reservations, this breaks down to 50 people for the 160 days they are open.2 The restaurant is open only 6 months while the chef spends the other 6 months in Barcelona at El

Taller (the workshop) and his secret laboratory where he develops dishes for the next season.3

Adrià’s journey as a chef began when he dropped out of business school and started washing dishes at a local hotel in Castelldefels and was introduced to classic cuisine. This was his training in the fundamentals of cooking. After, he performed his necessary military service during which the foundation of his cuisine was evolved in his introduction to Fermi Puig, a chef who introduced him to the classic books of nouvelle cuisine by chefs such as Paul Bocuse, Michel

Guèrard, and Alain Chappelle.4 In 1987, in a quest to answer the question about

6 what creativity is, Adrià resolved to “leave the cookbooks behind” and create a completely unique identity for elBulli.5

During the 6 month seasonal closure, Adrià began to experiment with new procedures and techniques. Now, this 6 month closure is essential to the conceptualization process and is the period the chefs spend time creating in el

Taller while also traveling the world looking for new inspiration. They investigate not only restaurants and food markets, but also museums, hardware stores, and area outside of urban centers.6 The team works in the elBulli workshop in

Barcelona to develop and expand on old and new techniques that have never been used in cooking. They also collaborate with industrial designers to develop necessary tools for executing a concept or ones that aids in efficiency of expression.

The time spent outside of the kitchen, finding a concept, dreaming of ideas, experimenting and executing is what allowed Adrià to develop an entirely new cuisine and set a precedent for chefs all over the world. During the service season, the chefs use these new techniques developed in el Taller to express new dishes that they then add to throughout the service season.7 This gives another form of creating and expressing simultaneously with the service.

“There are different levels of creativity in cooking. You can talk about following a recipe; following a recipe and adding a few touches of your own; inventing a new recipe of your own; or inventing a new cooking technique or language. Each of these can be creative, but the last one represents the highest level of creativity, and this is is the level that elBulli strives to attain. It is built on a foundation of technical knowledge, experience, a developed palate, good organization and many hours of work. Wanting to be creative is not enough.”8 -Ferran Adrià

7 In the workshop, the chefs document throughly to record details of ideas and experiments for new dishes. These are compiled at the workshop as well as at the restaurant. This explains the evolution and also creates starting points for new dishes. The approach is about the process of conceptualization through experimentation to a final product, one that can improved or evolve into another idea.

“Eating well is something you can do at home. The point about what we offer is that it is more than eating; it is an experience. What's radical about us rests not on what we serve, but on how and where. In the West, where the problem of hunger has been solved, where obesity is now the issue, the trend has to be more and more about the pleasure of eating, the fun, rather than seeing it as simply a way of satisfying our appetites. At elBulli we try and take this idea to the nth degree.”

To Adrià, taking a dish that is well known and then transforming all its ingredients, or part of them; then modifying the dish's texture, form, and/or its temperature is another way of manipulating the palate’s memory. The deconstructed dish has preserved its essence, but its appearance can be radically different from the original's.

The dishes that Adrià continues to create are by now legendary. elBulli has built its reputation on innovation and pioneering techniques that yield dishes that surprise, provoke, engage your sense of humor, and taste divine. It is a cuisine that differs from others, according to Adrià, in that "it demands psychological reflection".

The cuisine is based on the idea that taste is not the only sense that can be stimulated. Touch can also be explored (contrasts of temperatures and

8 textures), as well as smell, sight (colors and shapes), whereby the five senses become one of the main points of reference in the creative cooking process.9

His techniques have influenced chefs around the world, even the ones who appear to be disillusioned by it. His innovation is what has pushed us into a new era of food, even if it is adapted by other movements without recognition.

This innovation of conceptualizing and creating is what influences the proposed space. Giving a creative space to the chefs allows them a freedom of creativity.

This creativity provides them an opportunity to define and elevate a cuisine, a food movement, a style, or a form that might not have transpired by just working in the industry.

9 Case Study: French Laundry

Chef: Thomas Keller

Yountville, Napa Valley, CA

1600 square feet

“When you acknowledge, as you must, that there is no such thing as perfect food, only the idea of it, then the real purpose of striving toward perfection becomes clear: to make people happy. That’s what cooking is all about.” -Thomas Keller10

“It wasn’t until I got to the French Laundry that I recognized food as it could be in an artistic way, in an individual expressionist way, and then it really caught fire. Once I got a taste of that, and what it did to me personally, how satisfying it was to come up with a new dish, that became my style, that became what was important to me, constant creating. -Grant Achatz11

The building in which The French Laundry resides has been many things to many people. It has been a residence, a French steam laundry, a saloon and brothel, and then a residence again before it evolved to its current form.12 It was built in 1900 with local materials, river rock, and timber of the valley. “Its best self, I think. The natural stone modesty comforts people who come here and helps us focus on our work.”13 The Napa valley location is intrinsic to the foundation of the cuisine and the foundation of good cooking in general. The term Napa comes form the Wappo Indian term, Nappa: sometimes translated as plenty14 and the plentifulness is the soul of French Laundry. It is “The only place in the country where people come specifically to drink excellent wines and eat

fine food. But there’s more to its appeal: thirty-five miles long and up to five miles wide, it is American bounty itself.”15

10 Napa Valley’s original manifestation was a not a history conceptualized with the idea of refinement and luxury of our current perceptions. Yountville was founded in 1830 by a fur-trapper from North Carolina. It’s population was composed of mostly veterans from the Civil and Spanish-American War and then maintaining the same role in the 60s for Vietnam Veterans.16 The image changed in the 1960s when Don and Sally Schmitt, along with the “new wave of young winemakers”17 arrived. They were the cornerstone in creating the current view of Napa.

In 1978, Sally opened the French Laundry Restaurant,18 taking the name from the abandoned french steam laundry the building used to house. In 1992

Thomas Keller turned it into its current metamorphosis, which has been named

Best Restaurant in the World, in 2003 and 2004 and has been on the top 50 best restaurants in the US since.

“In this this age of both intense interest in cooking and hurried, overly busy lives in which there is never enough time, he urges us to move slowly and deliberately, to fully engage ourselves in cooking, to regain the connection to food.”19

Thomas advocates the use of local ingredients and preparing dishes by expressing the essence of the food, in an enhanced state. “For me, Thomas’s great gift is his example of how to be observant of the world and how food behaves and how we must react as cooks to that food.”20 The way that Thomas

Keller cooks is based on the foundation of fresh ingredients and then “focusing on more specific flavors, either by making them more intense than the foods from which they come, or by varying the preparation technique.”21 This is another example of deconstruction and reconstruction of the taste, though a

11 taste that is based on the idea of seasonality, sustainability, and quality ingredients, not as food movements, but as the foundation for all cooking, whether simple or more experimental. He combines flavors in a traditional way, maintaining the “history” of the pairings, but through his interpretation of the preparation in a modern way, he creates a new “memory” for the palette of a traditional one.22 “It is the explosion of flavor that’s so exciting - taking an ingredient and making it more than it was to begin with.”23

To Keller, finding this essence and then creating a dish is part of the preparation. The visual aspect of the food preparation is also important to his style of cooking. “Sometimes we bring a whole pheasant to the table, or a while roasted foie gras, or a large cut of beef...which we serve with crispy potatoes layered with prunes, and a classic bordelaise sauce. This is an important step to us because it involves the diner in the cooking process.”24

The menu at French Laundry reflects just that and is based on the idea of serving small courses, or a tasting menu. Each course is based on the idea of satisfying the appetite while also “piquing the curiosity,” or simply the considered “perfect quantity” as conceived by the chef.

The cuisine and the restaurant itself has a intense connection to its roots in Napa. Though the food is obviously influenced by the local produce, it is also the a cuisine of the chef, his personality and his point of view is just as important and not dictated by the local food. As the chosen site in the navy yards has a parallel history in the foundation of the chosen neighborhood, it recalls the history and the collective memory of a space.

12 Case Study: Alinea

Alinea

Lincoln Park

Chicago, IL

Chef: Grant Achatz

“So what makes Alinea so distinctive? And what are we to make of its controversial food: the outrageous pairings, the extraordinary manipulations of texture, presentations that veer from ingenious to surreal, service pieces that make some diners squirm, ingredients that range from familiar vegetables and meats to Ultra=Tex 3 and xanthum gum, and techniques that include encapsulation and pillows of scented air?” Michael Rhulman25

Grant Achatz began his journey to becoming one of the best chefs in the world when he was a small child, cooking with his grandmother and working at his parent’s restaurant in St. Clair, Michigan.26 After high school, he enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America and, after graduation, sought a job at one of the best restaurants in the country. Discouraged by the difficult kitchen and territorial chef, Achatz considered abandoning cooking altogether and took a cycling trip through the Italian countryside where he chanced upon a family restaurant. The meal was “a revelation for its simplicity and deliciousness.”27

He realized that this is what a restaurant should be: “the extraordinary pleasure and, more, the surprise of it. The pleasure coming so unexpectedly”28

After returning to American, Achatz applied to French Laundry where

Thomas Keller became his “culinary father” and taught him the culinary

13 fundamentals and allowed him to “absorb into his spine the qualities of food and service that go into creating one of the world’s greatest restaurants.”29

From the French Laundry, Achatz went to the legendary El Bulli, where a kitchen is not a kitchen, cooking is not cooking, and eating is not just eating.

Here was his next step in the evolution, the laboratory was the catalyst of his recognition of his “innate desire to create.”30 “When I saw what they were doing at El Bulli, it gave me the confidence as a young cook to experience new avenues in the kitchen.”31 It is almost like I was on a different planet,” Grant says of the El Bulli Kitchen. “there’s nobody butchering meat, there’s no veal stock simmering, there are no saute’ pans. The sights, the smells, right down to the language-where am I? I think Thomas sent me there because he recognized my restlessness, my need for constant creativity, and continuous evolution.”32

From elBulli, Grant went to Trio and began his personal journey with experimenting with dishes. At Trio, “What Grant was doing was on another plane (of creativity). His dishes were creative, all the way through, not just on the surface. He was taking ideas apart, rearranging the pieces, and putting them back together again.” 33

Grant’s intent is for the diner to review and examine every aspect of the habitual meal and to feel powerful emotions when they eat his food.34 “Grant is like a painter whose palette includes every color and every flavor in the world, every flavor in the mind.”35

“Alinea’s food doesn’t evoke, it provokes. It’s not comfort food that looks to the past; it’s challenging food that looks to the future, examining every aspect

14 of eating to try and create new sensations, textures, experiences, and emotions.”36

Grant states, “I want them to be challenged, surprised, delighted, and, hopefully, find something life-changing.”37 Grant’s idea on the restaurant is the end foundation of the passion a chef should find in the proposed space. The idea of seeking constant creativity and new concepts in a cuisine is exactly the passion having that a space like Truss should evoke in the chef.

15 The Site

The site for truss is located at 170 Tingey Street, SE, on the Capitol

Riverfront. It is currently part of the Department of Transportation as it was acquired as part of the land when developing the new DOT building.

Building 170 was formerly known as the Frequency Changer Building, a

8,441 square foot building that held equipment that made it possible to change electricity moving at one frequency to another frequency. It was originally constructed in 1919 and the defining element of the structure is a 30 ton crane bridge, which is no longer active, but preserved in its original location within the space. Characteristics of the building include steel frames and gabled roof trusses with a 20 foot spacing and connected by horizontal and vertical steel cross-braces. The original roof remains, made of wood planks supported by steel beams and then covered with metal panels. The columns are made of steel plates and sit atop concrete footings which allow for a completely open and unobstructed space. In the 1930’s the original metal siding walls were replaced with full height brick walls interrupted by tall vertical windows measuring 29’-6” tall and 4’-4” wide with a spacing of 10’ in between. There are also long horizontal windows near the top of the north and south facades, and then repeated on the north and south faces of the high roof walls that extend almost the entire length of the building and measure 4’-10” tall by 90’-10” long.

On the east and west facades are large overhead doors which are still functional.38

Building 170 is an ideal site as it is a structure that calls for adaptive reuse of a historical industrial building. It is located near 4 metros, and is center to the

16 new urban growth that is being developed in the SE corridor on the Riverfront. It is located on the Southeast corner of the DOT Plaza. The new growth in the area will not only benefit the restaurant, but creating another destination spot for the neighborhood creates more pedestrian traffic, increased public knowledge of the anticipated development, and a local connection to the neighborhood and neighbors. The use of a building with its roots in the rich history of the city also evokes the collective memory of the Washington, DC neighborhood.

The Neighborhood

The Washington Navy Yard is the U.S. Navy's oldest shore establishment.

In operation since the beginning of the 19th century, it was originally considered to be the ceremonial gateway to the nation's capital. Its original function was a shipbuilding center and it remained that until after the War of 1812 when it was deemed inaccessible for larger vessels and to the open sea. From there, it evolved into an ordnance plant that focused on the experimentation and evolution of technology and in 1886 it was designated as the manufacturing center for all ordnance in the Navy. In 1961 when the Navy began phasing out ordinance work the yards then became the ceremonial and administrative center for the Navy, adapting the factories for administrative use.39

Through its many manifestations, the Washington Navy Yard was the scene of many scientific developments including the research and testing of the clockwork torpedo, the bottle-shaped cannon, the giant gears for the Panama

Canal locks, and technicians applied their efforts to designing prosthetic hands and molds for artificial eyes and teeth.40 The street Tingey where the site is

17 located is named after the the yard's first commandant, Commodore Thomas

Tingey.

Though this development is in the beginning stages, there are numerous projects that anticipate the future of this neighborhood being the new “up and coming neighborhood” of Washington, DC. The completed neighborhood will contain up to 15 million square feet of offices; 9,000 residential units; 785,000 square feet of retailing; 1,200 hotel rooms; and 4 parks.41

United States Department of Transportation 2 million square feet Opened June 2007 The DOT Building is the first federal, cabinet level agency to locate its headquarters building outside of the federal core in DC. The building also has the largest green roof on the east coast and the DOT plaza hosts community events, including the Farmers Market, Concerts, and Movies.

Nationals Ballpark March 2008 41,000 seat facility The catalyst of the Anacostia Riverfront renewal. The facility includes the ballpark, restaurants, public plaza, and public art space. By incorporating recycling at the ballpark, implementing efficient field lighting, and a green roof the project received LEED Silver Certification from the US Green Building Council in 2008, making it the first major stadium in the United States to achieve LEED Certification.42

Half Street 275,000 SF of office space, 50,000 SF of retail/dining,320 residential units, and a 200-room boutique hotel Spring 2009 Half Street, located three blocks west of the site, will be the a gateway to the Nationals ballpark. It will be a mixed-use area offering food and drink, entertainment, and retails space. On game

18 days, the street will be closed to all vehicular traffic, allowing outdoor dining and gathering spaces before and after games.

The Yards 1.8 M SF of office, 300,000 SF of retail/dining, and 2,800 residential units (for rent and sale). FALL 2009 (PHASE I) / MID 2010 (PHASE II) Built directly on the riverfront, It will blend adaptive reuse of historical industrial buildings with new construction on new sites. It will also include a park that will have open green areas, a water feature, a terraced performance venue, biking/jogging trails and commercial space for restaurants and retail.

Riverwalk Trail SECTIONS EXISTING & MORE SECTIONS TO BE COMPLETED THROUGH 2012 A continuous 16-mile trail that will join both sides of the Anacostia River and provides a transportation alternative along with public recreation and community space. The trail will be 10-12 foot wide and is designed for numerous users; cyclists, runners, skaters and pedestrians while also providing seating, system maps, bike racks, and interpretive maps.

Navy Museum EXISTING An existing extension of the history of the neighborhood. The museum exhibits naval history and provides tours of the USS Barry ship docked on the Anacostia River.

Canal Park WINTER 2009 On the site of the Washington Canal that once connected the Anacostia River to the U.S. Capitol, this three-block park is a gathering place with an amphitheater, agricultural garden, boardwalk, public art and several water features. It will also incorporate sustainable elements within the design, developing state-of-the- art technology for on-site storm water collection, recycling, and management.

Barracks Row

19 EXISTING The Barracks Row Main Street is a nationally recognized historic commercial corridor that, like the Navy Yards, offers a historical connection with the neighborhood. In the early 1990s, 8th Street merchants banded together to create the Barracks Row Business Alliance to revitalize the area and has created an established commercial area with thriving local businesses along with open spaces and music and art events.43

The project location on the DOT plaza makes it an important entry to the site and neighborhood. The structure revives the imagery of an early industrial building and of the intrinsic nature of the origins of the site. This structure, among all the new architecture, is a historical visual anchor to the revitalization that is underway, an industrial relic of the past of the neighborhood.

As the history of the area is vast and rich, evoking that history in the design process allows for the completed space to relate to its intended purpose, while also reshaping it. Integrating historic remnants into the new design will give it context and a new and enriched meaning. Reaching back and drawing upon this history evokes the spirit of the time and also create a connection to the new rebirth of the neighborhood. “This type of deconstruction and reconstruction process keeps the spirit of the space intact, and ideally, keep the resulting design honest as well.”44 As this connection to the neighborhood is essential for the public interest in Truss, using a building with a historical connection to the neighborhood and also the history of Washington, encourages comprehensive integration into the community. It stems from its role as an essential part of the neighborhood’s landscape. It becomes a symbol of comfort and familiarity and a place of welcoming, creating a true destination for the neighborhood and the city. This creates a multi-layered aspect to the design, 20 creating something not only with an intellectual connection, but also a visceral one as well.

21 The Culinary Laboratory

A meal at Truss would not just a meal to simply satisfy hunger, it would be an opportunity to surrender oneself to an experience; an experience of creativity, preparation, and taste; an evocation of all the senses. It is a place that gives a platform for emerging chefs to present their concepts, ideas, and meals.

Through this, they will not only have an opportunity to define their reach, but also become more connected to the guests who receive the dish.

The project I propose defines and creates a new culinary landscape for

Washington, DC with new chefs rotating and defining their style and then moving on to present perhaps a new culinary vision within the area. Having rotating chefs allows for a constantly evolving/changing cuisine.

Dissolving the boundaries between kitchen and dining room creates a dynamic interaction between chef and diner, yielding direct access to the creative process.

The Workshop

“Cooking still makes me happy, to sit there and peel salsify, to fillet fish. But what I find most satisfying personally is to come up with a new dish, to write it down, watch it be born, come to life, and have its place”45 Grant Achatz, The Chef

“Creativity involves coming up with something that has not been done before, but novelty alone is not enough. It takes many hours of experimentation to create something that is both new and interesting. 46 Ferran Adrià, A Day at ElBulli

22 Every chef has a journey, a journey of lessons, of skills, of finding their voice. Some are fortunate like Grant Achatz to work in places such as French

Laundry and elBulli, where creativity is implicit and demanded, not oppressed and refuted. Unfortunately, many chefs experience territorial chefs where they can’t express a vision, or never find a kitchen where the idea of creativity is expected. In the workshop proposed here, the chefs have a space where creativity is encouraged. The core of the workshop is based on the idea of invention, creativity, and surprise, which is the driving force behind the food that is presented. The emphasis on creativity, creates a place that nurtures and helps them define their reach as chefs, as artists, creating a gastronomic incubator. At Truss, the chef will search for ways to enhance the skills in service of the food, the eaters, and themselves. Already having developed their culinary fundamentals they will use the workshop as a place for exploring new creative expressions of food.

The foundation of all good food as all good chefs know and have known is fresh and seasonal ingredients. This is inherent in the lab, the implicit nature of cooking, and also in the experimentation. Gastronomy is now a precedent in great restaurants, and learning and expressing this way, taking food apart, understanding the fundamentals of gastronomy allows them to then find their own style, their own personality of food, find their own reach as a chef and realize their own personal vision.

Typically, there is a painstaking process of trial and error when developing a new dish.47 Giving time for a chef to find a voice allows the creative process

23 to be unhurried that the workshop would provide, allows for the blossoming of the point of view.

These chefs will have a firm culinary foundation, either from school or experience, and will come to the proposed space to explore. Creativity is difficult to develop unless you have a thorough and disciplined approach to cooking, therefore the workshop is solely a place for someone who has a strong hold on culinary fundamentals, essentially a person ready to search for something new. It is a place for constant questioning of what makes a dish work and then how it might be conceptualized differently. Reflecting Alinea's pursuit of the original, creativity is the “undercurrent” of the entire Laboratory:

“to create relentlessly, to make it new over and over.” 48

The concept of art is also a driving force behind the mindset of the workshop, the cooking (creation) being a self-expression through the food that is prepared. “Cooking is a craft that can be raised to extraordinary levels. But art is something else. It entertains, it provokes, it makes you think, and it can change the way you view the world.”49

Here, presentation skills and understanding that a cuisine that follows the seasons with exceptionally fresh products will be emphasized. Thinking about how the food tastes, how food works and the lessons taken from it is essential to creating a dish, and then thinking about not only taste, but color, shape, and texture is important in the preparation.

Giving the chefs this space where they can create in a supportive environment, then puts them in the mindset of producing a highly expressive, sensual, theatrical, pleasurable experience.

24 The Visual Kitchen

The preparation of food has inspired books, movies, paintings, as the recognition of the sacredness of it is essential to understanding any culinary experience. The idea of preparation, the experience of preparing the food and the visual the participants experience is the heart of the restaurant. It will create the experience. The visual experience enhances both the act of preparation and the act of experiencing the prepared food. Having the visual kitchen allows clients to follow the service, to watch the succession of dishes, while the chef can actually gauge the reaction, and even converse with those regulars that wish to participate, enhancing the sacredness of the food.

When preparing and tasting food “you’re connecting yourself to generations and generations of people who have done the same thing for hundreds of years in exactly the same way.”50 A meal here should evoke comfort, joy, sensual and intellectual pleasure, both simple and complex, or just simple admiration and wonder.51 Exceptional food and wine is only one of the numerous physical and intellectual pleasures. The meals experienced will be

“performance art” for both the chefs and the guests.

To give pleasure, you have to take pleasure yourself. For me, it’s the satisfaction of cooking every day: tourneying a carrot, or cutting salmon, or portioning foie gras - the mechanical jobs I do daily, year after year. This is the great challenge: to maintain passion for the everyday routine and the endlessly repeated act, to derive deep gratification from the mundane. Thomas Keller52

“Food plays so many roles in our lives. At the most basic level, it’s fuel for our continued existence, the

25 calories that we need to get through the day. At the highest level, its a form of art, just as painting and sculpture.”53

The visual kitchen gives the participant an opportunity to be fully ingrained in the process of the preparation, from start to finish, the guests and chefs playing and switching roles of voyeur, exhibitory, creator, participant, giver, and receiver. It gives both the chef and guests the opportunity to be more in touch with the sensual aspect of preparing and eating. The preparation and presentation is theater, a performance where a new connection is created and the players and the audience exist and participate together, each one integral to the process of what is created, and what is given. The experience is similar to a curtain call, where the audience recognizes and acknowledges the pleasure that was given by the players and the players also acknowledge with gratitude, the necessity of the participation, in order for the performance to be complete.

Tasting Area

Here in the tasting area, the meal is staged. It is not only just about enjoyment, but also about thinking about what you were eating and why it had been put together in a particular manner. The visual experience enhances it by allowing one to experience the presentation. It tells a story, talking to you, and teaching you to listen, creating a spiritual experience.

The tasting area nods to Alinea for the intention of their dining area: “A neutral stage which the food could strut and fret.”54 The chef is not the only player in creating the experience, the design must enhance, create, evoke emotion in the same way as they food.

26 “But somewhere in between is the great pleasure to be derived from food - the cultural and aesthetic joys that we get when we gather around a table. For some, food is a crucial connection to their ethnic background, keeping alive traditions and providing comfort in a strange place. For others, it’s a way to connect with family and friends, a bridge that facilitates communication.”55 Conclusion

The Culinary Lab is an incubator for chefs of a culinary-minded culture where the idea of experiencing a meal is not just about simply eating, but also about being involved in the entire process. The site provides a connection to the community which is currently lacking in the SE Waterfront neighborhood and the early 20th century building creates an aesthetic that is equally influenced by early industrial and the current and contemporary. Truss reverses the front and back of the house, exposing it and allowing participants to peel in the kitchen, involving them in the process of the food preparation and presentation. It allows the participant to develop a more full appreciation for the craftsmanship of the meal the chefs who create it. Their presentation gives them not just an opportunity to interact with the customers, but also provides an opportunity to be recognized, not just locally but nationally, helping to develop Washington, DC into a culinary capital of the country and the world.

27 Program

PROGRAM Culinary Laboratory 170 Tingey Street, SE Washington, DC 20003 8,441 Square feet

Space Square Footage

Culinary Laboratory Workshop

Area for teaching/learning 1000 Area for testing new ideas

Culinary Laboratory Tasting Area

Entrance 400

Liquid Lounge 200

Visual Preparation Kitchen 2000

Food Participant Area 1000

Back of House 1500

Wine Storage 300

Bathrooms 1000

Total 8400

1. Culinary Laboratory Workshop The exploratory area gives a space that allows for exploration and expansion in the search for the meaning of food and new ideas in food preparation and the overall experience. a. Workshop/Exploratory Area i. Area for learning, exchanging ideas, exploring, brainstorming ii. Area for testing new ideas 1. small kitchen a. for experiments b. for staff meal preparation 2. small eating area a. for experiments 28 b. for staff meal iii. Lounge Area iv.Adjacent to BOH and Visual Kitchen 2. Culinary Laboratory Tasting Area a. Entrance i. Within/adjacent to Liquid Lounge b. Liquid Lounge i. Within/adjacent to Entrance c. Visual Preparation Kitchen i. Cold prep 1. For the assembling of appetizers and salads, and deserts 2. counter and shelves to put the equipment, dishes, utensils and ingredients for assembling each dish are provided in this area. ii. Cooking Station 1. the chef's work area a. Prep tables, cooking range with induction cooking top iii. Dishwashing 1. Close to the cooking area so that the pots and pans can be easily reached. 2. Should Not be visual iv.Food storage area v. The kitchen for the visual and preparation experience vi.Within/adjacent to Workshop, BOH, and FOH/food participant area vii.Periphery of space/building d. Food Participant Area i. The area to experience the pleasure of the food prep and the experience ii. Connected to Visual Preparation Kitchen iii. Within the periphery of the Visual Kitchen e. Back of House i. office ii. Lounge iii. meeting area iv.wine tasting area for staff v. Within/adjacent to Workshop and FOH/Food Participant Area 1. Staff Meal 2. FOH activities f. Wine Storage i. Must be able to hold 1,600 to 2,000 types of wines ii. Restaurant use 1. Visual iii. Within FOH/Food Participant Area iv.Accessible to Visual Kitchen g. Bathrooms as required by code i. Workshop/Exploratory Area 1. Assembly Area (kitchen) 2. Fixed Seating (lounge, meeting, wine tasting, office) ii. Preparation Kitchen and Food Participant Area

29 1. Assembly Area a. Visual Kitchen b. Entrance c. Passage Ways 2. Fixed Seating a. Food Participant Area b. Liquid Lounge

That is the foundation of Sustainable design, using a preexisting building and embracing it, the history, its essence, without altering it. The essence of the past. Reuse. The function is different, but the structure is the same.

30 Works Cited

Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler. A Day at elBulli. Phaidon Press Inc. New York, 2008.

Druckman, Charlotte. “A New Reign of Terroir.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. Summer 2008: 13-16.

Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller. The French Laundry Cookbook. Artisan. New York, 1999.

Khemsurov, Monica. Eat. I.D., December 2006.

Meyer, Eugene L. “New Ballpark in Washington Anchors an Area’s Revival.” New York Times, April 16, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/ realestate/ commercial/16stadium.html.

Miller, Rachel M. Building 170 Structural Engineering Report. DMJM Design, 2006.

“Nationals Park Gets the Green Light.” District of Columbia News Release, March 28, 2008. http://www.dc.gov/mayor/news/release.asp?id=1267&mon=200803

Ruhlman, Michael. “Toward Creativity.” In Alinea, Grant Achatz, 1-5. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008.

Steingarten, Jeffrey. “Experiencing Alinea.” In Alinea, Grant Achatz, 6-13. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008.

McClusky, Mark. “Postmodern Pantry.” In Alinea, Grant Achatz, 14-25. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008.

Khemsurov, Monica. Eat. I.D., December 2006.

MEYER, EUGENE L. “New Ballpark in Washington Anchors an Area’s Revival.” New York Times, April 16, 2008. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/realestate/ commercial/16stadium.html.

“Nationals Park Gets the Green Light.” District of Columbia News Release, March 28, 2008. http://www.dc.gov/mayor/news/release.asp?id=1267&mon=200803

Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller. The French Laundry Cookbook. Artisan. New York, 1999.

31 1 Jeffrey Steingarten, “ Experiencing Alinea,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 11.

2 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 18.

3 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 18-30.

4 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 30.

5 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 41.

6 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 42.

7 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 42.

8 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 52.

9 http://www.elbulli.com/

10 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 2.

11 Michael Ruhlman, “The Chef,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

12 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 3.

13 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 3.

14 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 3.

15 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 3.

16 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 3-4.

17 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 4.

18 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 4.

19 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 9.

20 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 9. 21 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 15.

22 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 15.

23 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 3.

24 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 185.

25 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 1.

26 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

27 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

28 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

29 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

30 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

31 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

32 Michael Ruhlman, “The Chef,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 2.

33 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 3.

34 Jeffrey Steingarten, “ Experiencing Alinea,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 11.

35 Jeffrey Steingarten, “ Experiencing Alinea,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 13.

36 Mark McClusky, “ Postmodern Pantry,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 19.

37 Mark McClusky, “ Postmodern Pantry,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 19.

38 Miller, Rachel M., Building 170 Structural Engineering Report, DMJM Design, 2006.

39 http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq52-1.htm

40 http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq52-1.htm

41 EUGENE L. MEYER, “New Ballpark in Washington Anchors an Areaʼs Revival,” New York Times, April 16, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/realestate/commercial/16stadium.html.

33 42 “Nationals Park Gets the Green Light,” District of Columbia News Release, March 28, 2008, http://www.dc.gov/mayor/news/release.asp?id=1267&mon=200803.

43 http://www.barracksrow.org/about.htm

44 Avroko, 49

45 Michael Ruhlman, “The Chef,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 4.

46 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 30.

47 Adria, Albert, Ferran Adria, and Julie Soler, A Day at elBulli (New York: Phaidon Press Inc, 2008), 40.

48 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 5.

49 Michael Ruhlman, “Toward Creativity,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 4.

50 50 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 2.

51 Jeffrey Steingarten, “ Experiencing Alinea,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 11.

52 Jones, Deborah and Thomas Keller, The French Laundry Cookbook, Artisan, New York, 1999, 2.

53 Mark McClusky, “ Postmodern Pantry,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 17.

54 Jeffrey Steingarten, “ Experiencing Alinea,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 11.

55 Mark McClusky, “ Postmodern Pantry,” in Alinea, Grant Achatz (Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2008), 17-19.

34 the exterior the building the site Dev

H ST

I ST

NE

W JERSEY A K ST 3RD ST HALF ST 4TH ST L ST VE L ST 7TH ST 2ND ST 2ND ST 9TH ST 8TH ST

M 5TH ST metro M ST M ST M metro VE 1ST ST VE C HULL A VE TINGEY ST ATER ST TINGEY ISA A W SQ N ST GREN A N ST ULDING ST TERSON A AH L T A D A P 30 Ton Crane Bridge Factory Changer House P N PL WATER ST KENNON ST

ANAL ST O ST 1ST ST

NATIONALS C BALLPARK SICARD ST OL ST API T P ST

VE SOUTH C AC A TOM elevating the industrial PO Q ST

R ST

S ST

T ST HALF ST

1ST ST

V ST

capitol riverfront 170 tingey street, se washington, dc a. entrance b. bar/lounge c. tasting room d. visual kitchen e. private wine space f. b.o.h g. overflow seating h. culinary workshop

g e

f

h d a

c b

level one floorplan level two floorplan scale: 3/16” = 1’ scale: 3/16” = 1’ section 1 section 2 section 3 scale: 3/16” = 1’ Scale: 3/16” = 1’ scale: 3/16” = 1’ section 4 section 5 scale: 3/16” = 1’ scale: 3/16” = 1’ vintage industrial cabinet emeco navy chairs marais stool

the workshop the tasting room bulthaup b2 kitchen workshop vintage industrial x-base wood & custom banquette metal tables a

b-b

b-b: section thru rack illuminations scale: 11/2”=1’ c-c

Hollow Structural Steel Post

Hollow Structural ~Glass Floor~ wine wall cross-section a a-a: wine wall section Steel scale: 1/8”=1’ scale: 1/8”=1’

c-c: plan detail at cross beam & post scale: 11/2”=1’

la campana le martin de fles

wine wall elevation wine wall plan detail scale: 1/8”=1’ scale: 1/8”=1’