Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC
The Walter Reed Medical Center is one of the United States Army’s flagship medical centers on the east coast of the United State. Located on 13 acres of land, it serves more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military. Culinary Advisors provided two feasibility studies and full design services for an in-place, phased renovation resulting in a completely new 40,000 square foot cafeteria, dining room, kitchen, and training center. The project included a 6,000 square foot cafeteria, a 19,000 square foot kitchen, storage and office complex, and a 1,300 SF warewashing room. The design was based on a planning studies completed by Culinary Advisors in 1997 and 1998.
The 450-seat cafeteria serves 2500 or more meals for lunch, and features the latest trends in cafeteria dining including self-serve food bars, exhibition cooking, and mobile cooking equipment. The kitchen supports the cafeteria, a 600 SF carry-out outlet, and up to 450 patient beds. The design of the kitchen and tray assembly area includes additional utilities and space so that the hospital can support up to 900 beds in times of national emergency. A cook/chill system is used for patient food. Meals are trayed cold, and transported to 20 patient floor pantries where they are rethermalized. Final phases of the project were completed in 2004.