**3.2 Evaluation**

As mentioned earlier, the team was able to only change one major thing, the furniture which is a change from long and rectangular tables to round tables. One small change was enough to make a big difference. In the new layout, condiments, napkins, and utensils were placed in the center of each table, based on dining room workers' input. This placement reduced noise levels dramatically because students did not need to get up and retrieve condiments or utensils from the other end of a long table. Both the dining hall workers and students noticed the change and liked it. In a quieter and calmer dining hall, students' stress levels may decrease and they are making better food choices and having richer interactions with their friends. A 5th grader told 5abc Eyewitness News, in an interview regarding the design intervention at Bruce Vento elementary school, "Last year it was very loud, and this is a little bit more quiet… when nothing is loud, it is all peaceful" [17].

The teachers' feedback on the dining hall renovation was also positive. 91% of the teachers surveyed preferred the new round tables in the dining hall. The teachers reported the round table, above all, created senses of "inclusivity" and family style dining which encouraged students to interact and socialize while staying

**Figure 6.** *Bruce Vento dining hall schematic design. (Source: Rendering by Miranda McNamara).*

*Building Community and Fostering Health and Well-Being through a Collaborative School Based… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97525*

#### **Figure 7.**

*Six prioritized design solutions for Bruce Vento dining hall redesign (Source: https://bventoumn.wixsite.com/ bvento/calmingroom).*

#### **Figure 8.**

*Finished condition of Bruce Vento dining hall with the round tables (Source: https://bventoumn.wixsite.com/ bvento/calmingroom).*

seated. As the staff observed, the dining hall became less "institutional" and more "communal" which turned the overall atmosphere into "kinder" and "gentler". Suggestions for future improvements of the dining hall include "adding more components to contribute more to the family feel", adjusting current lighting conditions (e.g., "too harsh", "lower light", etc.), and providing wall storages to optimize student circulations.
