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NewsvineSoft armchairs, LCD televisions, skylights letting in the sunshine and the aroma of pizza sizzling in the oven — after months of renovations, the new Ricker Dining opened its doors to Sterling Quad residents on Sunday, garnering both praise for the upgraded facility and complaints about the inconvenience caused by the 15-week construction project.
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Students sat down for dinner last night at Ricker Dining, which reopened this week after nearly four months of renovation. Patrons were generally pleased with the new facility.
“Since we needed to renovate, it was a chance for us to do something different,” said Executive Director of Stanford Dining Rafi Taherian. “Dining halls are typically used only three times a day — why not extend its usage? We want students to use this space for meeting up with friends, doing work and hanging out.”
Ricker underwent renovation starting in June. Though the dining hall did remain open throughout the remodeling process, the bulk of its food was prepared in Wilbur Dining Hall and transported across campus. Grilled entrees were cooked on an outdoor grill in the field next to Ricker.
While the newly renovated dining facility opened to students on Sunday and held Faculty Night yesterday, Taherian explained that the Grand Opening would be delayed until next week, even though promotional fliers originally advertised that the event would take place yesterday.
“With a Faculty advisor dinner scheduled [yesterday], we can better prepare for the celebrations by having them one week later,” he said. “The decision to postpone was made a few weeks ago, but our marketing division had already printed fliers announcing the Nov. 5 date.”
The University addressed earthquake preparedness in the overhaul, which was scheduled due to stricter building codes specified by Santa Clara County Building Department and the University. In the renovation process, Stanford strengthened the walls and roofs, upgraded plumbing and improved electrical infrastructure.
In addition to complying with structural requirements, Stanford Dining collaborated with students, Student Housing and the University Committee on Land and Building Development to make Ricker a more student-friendly place.
“We want it to be just like the students’ home,” said Manager of Ricker Dining Mary Duch.
The University improved the dining room, kitchen equipment and serving area, with new features including two wide-screen televisions, an open-concept kitchen, a bigger menu, better ventilation and more sustainable waste management. Students can also find a sound system for playing music, a projector in the dining area for screening movies and a program room for working in the updated dining facility.
“This is a spectacular result,” Duch said. “‘Wow’ was the students’ feedback.”
Indeed, student responses to the renovated Ricker have been positive.
“I love the architecture,” said Rachel Hovde ‘11. “It’s cozy, and the food is really good. I’m impressed.”
“I like it,” agreed Cynthia Mejia ‘08. “There’s more space and a wider variety of food now, and that’s great.”
However, despite excitement about the final product, some students were less enthusiastic about the lack of information provided to students living in Sterling Quad about the renovation.
“They started to jackhammer at eight in the morning about 10 feet away from my room last week,” said Spencer Peck ‘09, a resident of Robinson House, which is located adjacent to Ricker. “Why didn’t they inform students about the construction work earlier? There’s no way I would have drawn into Robinson had I known.”
Lauren Catherine Norwood ‘10 was so inconvenienced by the construction that she is now seeking compensation from Stanford Dining.
“They do their heavy work in the morning and not in the afternoon because it’s more convenient for them that way,” she said. “We’re trying to start a petition to obtain a rebate from Stanford Dining as compensation for the noise. It would be nice if building contracts could stipulate 9 a.m. as the starting time for noise instead of 8 a.m.”