Texas State University – The Den

San Marcos, Texas

Expertise

  • Education

Services

  • structural engineering
  • electrical engineering
  • mechanical / plumbing engineering

Size

  • 3,128 SF

BHB provided electrical, mechanical, and structural engineering services for this two-story, approximately 3,128-square-foot renovation and addition at Texas State University. The Den offers various dining options for students living on campus, including several restaurants and seating areas for students to eat, work, or socialize.

The renovation project revamps the kitchen area and makes the space more inviting for students to take advantage of the new grab and go food stations. There will also be a new seating area to make space for students to plug-in their phones and laptops.

Included in this project was the design of an outdoor courtyard and pavilion that will be built in a future phase of the project. The outdoor area will feature a wooden arbor structure, lighting, digital screens, and a marble fountain.

The building was updated with new electrical, mechanical, and plumbing systems,  lighting, and a modern aesthetic that provides a more desirable place for students to gather. There is also new bar seating with windows that open to the courtyard outside, as well as several booths and tables for seating.

For the kitchen renovation, the university’s maintenance team wanted all kitchen equipment to be able to be “unplugged.” However, most pieces of commercial kitchen equipment are hard-wired and do not use a plug. To satisfy this request, the BHB team implemented a specialty connector that allows the kitchen equipment to be hard-wired or unplugged.

If the pluggable connectors were installed at the wall behind the kitchen equipment, it would have pushed the equipment out from under the exhaust hoods, which would have been unsafe. BHB had to come up with a creative solution and place the connectors in a different location to maintain safety standards while catering to the university’s requests.

Key People

  • Thomas Wilson, PE

  • Ian Bost, PE, LEED AP

  • Allen Grammer, PE, NSSA AP

  • Ronald Ishmael, PE, LEED AP