Sustainability in Restaurant Design

By Ellie Auton-Strolz, Ariella Smith-Eidleman, Holly Elliot, and Gurkamal Brown

Our Rooftop Garden

Our garden will regulate temperatures inside the building by working as a heat insulator.
It keeps the building cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
It can absorb up to 80% of rain water which helps eliminate flooding
It improves air quality

How our Rooftop Garden is built:

Waterproofing layer

The Waterproofing layer covers the whole surface of the roof where the plants will be planted

2. Insulation layer

The Insulation layer makes the rooftop garden resistant to moisture and changes in temperature

3. Drainage layer

The drainage layer on the roof garden is primarily used to quickly discharge rainwater from the vegetation layer and into the drainage system. This layer also collects some of the rain water

4. Geotextile layer

This layer is used to separate drainage layer and plants growing in the soil

5. Vegetation layer

The vegetation layer is the surface where the plants will grow. This layer should have good air and water circulation. The soil is prepared based on the plants that will be growing

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Plants on our rooftop garden:

-Potatoes

-Rosemary (Pollinator attractor)

-Tomato (Pollinator attractor)

-Romaine lettuce

-Kale

-Carrots

-Red onions

-Zucchini

-Cilantro (Pollinator attractor)

-Basil (Pollinator attractor)

-Eggplant (Pollinator attractor)

-Garlic

-Cucumber (Pollinator attractor)

-Strawberries (Pollinator attractor)

-Raspberries (Pollinator attractor)

-Mint (Pollinator attractor)

-Pear vines (Pollinator attractor)

-Fennel (Pollinator attractor)

-Broccoli

Sustainability in the restaurant:

We have made sure to select appliances with high energy-efficiency ratings
We have chosen to use eco bulbs instead of regular bulbs
We have designed the space for maximum natural light in order to reduce artificial lighting
We have chosen to use non toxic building materials and recycled building materials
We have installed a water collection and filtration system in order to reduce water wastes

Our Restaurant

Our restaurant and patio is built on an old parking lot which makes use of a space that would otherwise not be used
Our restaurant reuses bricks from other demolished buildings and old roads
All of our windows are triple paned which ensures that very little heat is lost through the windows and the restaurant remains insulated
We use low-flow toilets to reduce water waste
All of our menus change depending on the different growing seasons and our menu is based on what fruits and vegetables are in season and available which reduces our carbon footprint
We are partnered with sustainable producers and farmers
We make sure to train our staff to be passionate about sustainability and creating community
We make sure that our produce is locally sourced and organic
We make sure to use sustainable and natural cleaning products that are biodegradable and environmentally friendly
We make sure to support sustainable community endeavors such as supporting community gardens, farmers markets and community initiatives

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Honey Bees

On our rooftop garden, we choose to house honey bees. Because of the declining bee population we decided to partner with Bees Matter, an initiative that is helping improve honey bee health. We are supporting the bees by purchasing a beehive and have planted our rooftop garden making sure to be conscious about different plant types that are pollinator attractors. This will hopefully bring bees back to our community and create a more sustainable environment.

The Wastes That a Restaurant Produces and How They Can Be Upcycled

Food Waste: There is an estimated 13 billion pounds of food that are wasted all throughout the U.S according to the USDA in 2010. Restaurants greatly contributes to this because of improper disposal of uneaten food. When food waste is disposed in landfills and is starting to decompose,they produce what is called “ landfill gases’ which is a mixture of methane and carbon dioxide. When not handled properly, these gases can cause harmful effects on the environment as well as hygiene. In order to upcycle our food waste, we will use it as compost for our gardens instead of bringing it to landfills.
Water Waste: One of the main wastes that a restaurant produces is water waste. Water is used for cooking as well as to serve. To prevent this, we will build an on-site filtration system that can also allow us to serve carbonated water as well as non-carbonated water. This will be achieved by purchasing Natura systems. That way, we achieve a much more sustainable and eco-friendly option.
Take-away containers (material waste): In order to prevent food waste, many restaurants choose to provide their customers with containers to bring home. Unfortunately this comes with a cost. These containers greatly contribute to waste. According to the Environmental protection Agency based in America, packaging contributes to 30 percent of all waste. In order to prevent from piling on to this, we will provide compostable take-away containers made out of recycled material to our customers. Along with these options, we will be selling metal containers for $10 dollars. If someone purchases this, they will get $2 off of their bill and $1 off every time they come back. This is based on the Tiffin Project by Hunter Moyes.
Electricity: According to the Pacific Gas and Electric, about 80% of the $10 billion the commercial food industry spends each year is consumed by using wasteful cooking methods and appliances. Therefore, in order to eliminate these wastes, restaurants can implement energy-conserving fluorescent bulbs,use motion-activated light bulbs for washrooms, as well as maintaining the integrity of all equipment.
Air Pollution: Food miles contribute greatly to the state of today’s environmental downfall. For example, the U.K alone produces 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by transporting food. Unfortunately, there is not a way to physically “up-cycle” air pollution but there are many ways to prevent it. A restaurant can have seasonal menus and get their produce locally in order to eliminate the amount of travelling it takes.

How Our Restaurant Benefits From Being Around Nature

Mental Health: A study made by the University of Derby and The Wildlife Trusts asked participants to partake in a survey that questioned their current connection to nature and how they felt about it as well as their overall mental health ( ei.Level of happiness). They were asked the same questions after the experiment as well as two months later. During the experiment each participant was asked to do “ something wild” everyday for 30 days. The result of the experiment was that there were significant rises in overall happiness and mental health. Hopefully, by establishing various components of nature throughout our restaurant, we will be able to produce a similar effect on our customers and staff.
Produce: As for the sustainable benefits, our restaurant greatly benefits from being around farms and local farmers markets in order to access produce to run the business. Also, being around nature helps our bees and our plants to thrive .

How our Restaurant Uses Diversity to Build Resilience to Risks

We would have multiple areas of resources as backup to be able to supply if any of them fail. For example, we would have multiple local farmers in different areas, or an extra water supply (backup generators) in case of failure of water for an area of the Restaurant.
We would have partnerships with local farmers to support them, which would also benefit both businesses. The fact that we are putting food that is statuant from a farm on our tables would also be appealing to many. Not only would we get profits from supplying fresh food, but the farmers would also give the locally- owned farms financial stability. Fresh food is also healthier for the customers, there wouldn’t be any pesticides on the vegetables.
By having solar panels, we would be saving money that would go towards an electricity bill. Solar panels are also environmentally friendly, which is the purpose of our restaurant. If for any reason the power within the area was to fail, our restaurant would still have energy due to the solar panels.

Natural Sources our Restaurant Relies on

Most things built in our restaurant are built with wood. By using wood, we would be taking more carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it within the wood itself. This is good for your health, as it mentally relaxes one from all of their stresses. A few other benefits to this is that it’s cheap, easy to build, looks beautiful, and provides local green jobs.
Since we have a rooftop garden, we rely on rainwater to maintain our plants. Any other water is used in our kitchen, restrooms, and some is also used for our cooling and heating.
Our menu is made up of dishes that use our plants, or locally farmed plants. In our rooftop garden, we grow as much as our climate and city would enable us to, and the rest is from local farms within the lower mainland.
In order to get the plants to grow, we use natural soils and fertilizers. Most of our food scraps (compost) go back into the planting process of our garden and provide nutrition for them. Everything is recycled back into the growth of the food we serve on our plates.

Reusing Recycled Materials

Another thing that our restaurant will do to help connect with community and repurpose things that may be thrown away otherwise. In our restaurant we will try to use as many recycled tables and chairs as possible. And we will be open to any member of the community bringing in anything at anytime. One other thing we will reuse are the containers we receive our product in we will reuse as decoration or storage. For example if the tea we buy comes in containers that would normally be thrown away we can use that on our tables as a utensil or candle holder. This is because we want to be able to use the resources around us and our community before we go out and buy them.

Biodegradation

On our rooftop garden we will have a large wooden composting bin, where we will collect food waste from our restaurant and compost it and use it for our garden. Our restaurant will also give the opportunity for people in the community to drop of their compost and we will compost it for them. In return we get some more compost for our soil, and the people who gave it to us will get some back as well. Ideally, this process will create more knowledge about composting and gardening within our community. 📷

Pollination

As we have stated before our rooftop garden will have a honey bee hive. We have planted our garden with specific plants we know are pollinator attractors, so the bees will come back and help our garden flourish. The bees will also produce honey that we will use in dishes and drinks within the restaurant. These bees will provide pollination through the community and hopefully attract more bees to our community to create a more beautiful and sustainable place to live.

Water Collection

For our restaurant we decided the best way to collect rainwater was to use our gutters and a rain barrel. We will place a barrel somewhere on our rooftop garden connected to the gutters, so all of our rain could be collected, stored and repurposed to water our garden. This way we are using water that would normally just go down the drain to grow our plants that we use in our restaurant. Of course we will have to be cleaning out gutters regularly to try and make sure no debris gets caught, but even if that did happen it is just going right back into the earth. No person will be drinking this water just to stay extra safe. Reusing our rain water will also help with managing storm run-off. Collecting our rain water will also help lessen the municipal water demand. 📷

Bibliography

https://www.activesustainability.com/construction-and-urban-development/green-roofs-or-how-to-save-with-rooftop-gardens/

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https://food-hub.org/files/resources/Food%20Miles.pdf