Emory University’s Cox Food Hall gets a design makeover

Cox Food Hall at Emory University reopened last fall with a brand new look after more than a year of renovations. 

Designed by Arcturis | Square Feet Studio, the 12,000-square-foot dining hall now features expanded seating and updated architectural design meant to improve flow. Emory also added five new restaurant stalls at Cox Food Hall, including Big Chicken, Ace Sushi, Twisted Taco, Brasiliana Pizza, and Honolulu Coffee. 

Located at the center of Emory’s main campus, Cox Hall serves as a frequent grab-and-go stop for thousands of university students, faculty, and staff each day. According to Chad Sunstein, Senior Director of Emory Dining, Cox Hall hadn’t undergone any renovations in 20 years. Lack of seating and other inefficiencies eventually led to the decision by the university to renovate the dining facility at Cox Hall. 

“The problem that we had was that the space had horrible queuing issues,” said Emily Mastropiero, a design lead for the new Cox Food Hall. “It was dark, chaotic. It had low drop ceilings and no sort of design restraint with the food stalls, so it very much felt like a cafeteria.”

Mastropiero and her team wanted to brighten up the dining hall first, then tackle the problems with queuing and flow in the space. 

Inspired design

Working with restaurant tenants is something Arcturis | Square Feet Studio understands well. Before joining forces with Midwest-based Arcturis last fall, Atlanta-based Square Feet Studio’s clients included restaurants like C. Ellet’s at The Battery and El Malo at the Atlanta Dairies. The Cox Food Hall redesign became a fitting project for the partnered firms. Arcturis has experience working on higher education projects, including at Washington University and St. Louis Community College.

Mastropiero and her team considered Emory’s branding in their design plans. The original architect of the campus, Henry Hornbostel, served as further inspiration. 

“He had this Italian Renaissance style with the clay tile roofs and that kind of Mediterranean styling, the pink stone that’s on some of the campus buildings, and then the really beautiful, ornate window tracery that you see in some of the traditional quad buildings,” Mastropiero said.  

Colored tile is used on the food stalls as a contemporary interpretation of Hornbostel’s design. Perforated metal canopies overhead are meant to reflect the dappled light through Emory’s tree canopy. “We were just kind of thinking about ways we could look at all of these aspects that we saw walking around campus, and reinterpret them in a way that feels fresh, modern, playful, but yet cohesive,” Mastropiero explained.

To showcase Emory’s character, the design team curated custom art for the new food hall space. Artists Eric Mack, Alex Waggoner, Teresa Abboud, and Christina Kwan contributed artwork that references Emory, like collages using old yearbook clippings and a playful mural depicting campus life.

Students share thoughts

Emory students have mixed reactions about the redesign of Cox Food Hall. 

“I never really took issue with the previous design,” said Elizabeth Brubaker, a senior at Emory. “After a year of renovation, I expected more significant changes, but I’m glad to have the space back as an upperclassman who lives off campus but works on campus and occasionally needs an easy place to grab food.”

She noted that her favorite food vendor, Faraya, which served Lebanese cuisine, did not return, but liked that the new vendors are all local restaurant owners. 

Sophomore Amelia Bush rarely visited the Cox Hall dining location prior to the renovation, as it was under construction her freshman year.

“Overall, I really like it and am shocked I barely went in the first semester,” Bush said. “I think it’s really pretty and I love all the outdoor seating. But for the interior, I feel like there aren’t as many tables as I would like, although that may be due to the grab-and-go nature.”

Mastropiero said that Arcturis | Square Feet Studio is looking forward to tackling more projects like Cox Food Hall, especially on university and college campuses. 

“[Higher education institutions] are great clients, and they’re really passionate about what they’re doing,” she said.

Find more information on the Cox Food Hall design at the Arcturis | Square Feet Studio website.

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