For those not familiar with the world of design and construction there has been a quiet revolution happening within the industry over the past 10 years. Historically buildings were designed in 2D and it was the contractor’s responsibility to address the on-site coordination challenges of transferring 2D layouts to a fully three-dimensional build & installation.  This process was both time consuming and costly and frequently led to delays in construction and ultimately impacted opening dates, resulting in delayed trading and revenue generation.

However, quietly the age of 3D design has become more prevalent, and with it the ability to coordinate out, in advance, all of the on-site build & installation issues, the theory is that it makes for a smoother and faster site construction period. The dominant software package being used is Revit, a comprehensive design tool that most of the world’s leading architects, designers and main contractors are now using.

Tricon committed to Revit back in 2014 (considered the early days in 3D design) and we have watched with interest as this trend has grown and now find that 60% of our projects are now full 3D delivery.

Whilst this has been of great benefit to the design & construction industry the design process is still arguably a confusing and challenging market for both hospitality operators and chefs alike. There are few chefs that can truly state they can read a plan layout and have full appreciation as to spatial scale whilst translating equipment detail from symbols and icons, and why should they, their job is to focus on the culinary arts in the kitchen not translate plan layouts. This is where 3D design can start to really assist in the design process and where Tricon have led from the front in helping operators and chefs understand what the plans are showing, and as a result gain significantly more constructive feedback and by association establish higher levels of confidence in the designs we are delivering.

We are now able to create 3D visuals of kitchen layouts and video walkthroughs; as a result, chefs can now see exactly what they are getting and have a much greater appreciation of the space and scale of operation, allowing them to comment confidently on layout and equipment content. It is one thing staring at a 2D plan layout trying to guess what is going where, but a full 3D video walkthrough suddenly brings the kitchen to life in real-time and allows chefs to properly consider how to optimise the use of the space and achieve the greatest labour efficiencies through ergonomic layout.

This leads to much deeper collaboration about the detail of how the kitchen is intended to operate, and what equipment layout and detail best delivers an operator’s and chef’s requirements.  This is because now the culinary team can fully appreciate the detail of the designs, and this arguably delivers better considered designs that operate more effectively.

So, whilst the intent was for 3D design to speed up the construction process, and remove costly on-site coordination issues, a great peripheral benefit is that foodservice designers are able to build much stronger relationships with their clients, operators and chefs.  This is because this relatively new medium of design allows a much more transparent approach to what the designs are delivering.

View a model of a current project for a Corporate client’s executive dining kitchen below.