Philbrook Dining Hall
University of New Hampshire • Durham, NH
Philbrook Dining Hall was designed by Ulrich Franzen in 1968-70 as the dining hall for a residential complex at the south end of UNH's Durham Campus. Originally seating 600, the dining hall was not able to handle increased patronage. With renovations and additions in 2005 and 2008, the dining hall grew in size and nearly doubled its capacity as it was better organized to handle the flow of students.
This new work pays homage to Franzen's original design, enhancing the original geometry used in the organization of rooms and building footprint. Expanded brick planar walls are broken down by large expanses of glass. The service entrance at the north wall, facing McDaniel Drive, is improved by screening the loading dock.
The new entrances open into a large lobby to bring students out of the cold. The cafeteria line gave way to a number of food stations, thus eliminating jams in the traditional "line-up". An additional dining room, with its own serving area was added. Dishwashing was relocated along the exit path and its former location became home to a soup and sandwich station with attractive views of the quadrangle created by the dining hall and the two high-rise dormitories to its south.