Table. Spatial Domains, Design Strategies, and Core Healthy Eating Design Principles, Healthy Eating Design Guidelines for School Architecture, Pilot Version, 2013.
| Domain 1: Commercial Kitchen Zone | |
| Objective: Design an open commercial kitchen to facilitate the procurement, preparation, and storage of fresh, organic, whole foods that are prepared in a manner to preserve nutritional value. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Articulate the kitchen area as a demonstration kitchen with an open view to food preparation stations from servery and seating zones. | 4 |
| Create dedicated display and storage areas for fresh and preserved fruits and vegetables. | 4 |
| Design freezer and refrigeration capacity to accommodate seasonally available, locally sourced food, including food from federally subsidized school programs such as Farm-to-Schools. | 1 |
| Provide kitchen equipment such as ovens, tilt skillets, and steamers that allows for a variety of cooking methods for fresh foods. | 1 |
| Avoid deep-fat fryers. | 1 |
| Provide kitchen equipment that allows for a variety of processing and preservation methods, such as canning and freezing of fresh foods. | 1 |
| Provide storage bins for a variety of whole grains and whole grain flours. | 1 |
| Provide flash-freezing capacity for fresh local foods. | 1 |
| Provide sufficient counter or work space for processing of fresh foods. | 1 |
| Domain 2: Teaching Kitchen Zone | |
| Objective: Design complementary hands-on teaching kitchen areas for students and extracurricular organization use. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Create a visual and/or physical connection to the commercial teaching kitchen, seating area, and outdoor school gardens. | 4 |
| Provide areas conducive to teaching, presentation, and demonstration cooking. | 2 |
| Create teaching kitchen as a hands-on learning environment with equipment that is safe and accessible to children. | 2 |
| Create an outdoor kitchen area conducive to traditional (historical) and experimental teaching and cooking (ie, open-fire cooking, solar oven). | 2 |
| Provide outdoor kitchen with access to potable water. | 2 |
| Domain 3: Serving Zones | |
| Objective: Design the servery to function efficiently to maximize dining time for students, while effectively encouraging the selection and enjoyment of healthy foods and beverages. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Provide servery space for healthy grab-and-go meal options in the snack or express line. | 1 |
| Provide space behind the servery counter for packaged snacks to be served on request only. | 1 |
| Use mobile hot and cold servery equipment carts for flexibility and a variety of arrangements (eg, freestanding fresh salad and fruit station in seating areas). | 1 |
| Avoid servery equipment that serves exclusively competitive foods (eg, self-serve ice cream freezers). | 1 |
| Provide age-appropriate self-service food preparation stations (eg, juicing, microwaving, toasting). | 3 |
| Place healthy foods at eye level of children, and specify food service equipment that allows one to do so. | 3 |
| Include servery lines in sufficient number to ensure efficient user flow, thereby ensuring all students have adequate time to eat. Coordinate with district wellness policy. | 3 |
| Provide visual circulation cues to support efficient flow through servery areas. | 3 |
| Situate disposal areas to avoid conflicts with users entering the servery or dining areas. Arrange disposal areas along dining area exit route, when possible. | 3 |
| Provide express checkout lanes for students choosing healthy meals, with no sugary or salty products such as sweetened beverages, chips, or desserts. | 3 |
| Position servery equipment to accommodate nutritious foods (eg, broccoli) at the beginning of the server line. | 3 |
| Design space by cafeteria register to allow for display of healthy foods and minimize child access to foods high in fat and sugar. | 3 |
| Provide servery equipment that can accommodate changeable food descriptors/labels. | 3 |
| Provide servery equipment that provides space for multiple healthy choices in each food category(celery and carrots). | 3 |
| Provide servery equipment with closed sides and tops when sale of less healthful options is required. (ie, ice cream). | 3 |
| Position salad bars away from walls for 360-degree circulation. | 3 |
| Position salad bars near the checkout register. | 3 |
| Provide servery counter space that can accommodate fruit bowls for serving fresh fruits and vegetables. | 3 |
| Provide space for serving trays. | 3 |
| Domain 4: Dining Zones | |
| Objective: Reconceive dining areas as places of enjoyment and relaxation, conceived in such a way as to fully support healthy food initiatives. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Create visual access between dining areas and other food spaces (eg, school garden and/or commercial kitchen). | 4 |
| Create a variety of seating options and social arrangements, recognizing that not all students will be comfortable in a given configuration. | 3 |
| Provide outdoor seating areas designed for the local climate (ie, covered or shaded, as necessary) and connected to the interior dining area. | 3 |
| Design dining areas to recognized national standard for seating capacity, to avoid overcrowding. | 3 |
| Provide comfortable seating. | 3 |
| Provide small refrigerators in every classroom, for storage of packed snacks, lunches, and beverages. | 1 |
| Provide staff refrigerators in proximity to anticipated staff eating areas. | 1 |
| Domain 5: Aesthetics of Healthy Food Environments | |
| Objective: Design spaces to provide a relaxing atmosphere conducive to the enjoyment of food and social interaction. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Feature fresh, preserved, or prepared food in public spaces. | 4 |
| Incorporate appealing colors and lighting. | 3 |
| Provide targeted acoustic treatments with high noise reduction coefficients in public gathering spaces such as dining areas. | 3 |
| Incorporate integrated audio capabilities that allow music to be played in selected areas. | 3 |
| Domain 6: Educational Signage, Way Finding, and Marketing | |
| Objective: Deploy graphic design and signage elements throughout the school environment to reinforce the healthy eating message. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Incorporate visible and educational indicators of school (or municipal) water quality. | 4 |
| Design architectural interiors to provide dedicated space for healthy nutrition marketing (eg, corridors, stairways, servery, dining areas). | 4 |
| Provide daily/weekly/monthly menu signage at the entry to the dining area and servery zone and throughout the seating zone. | 4 |
| Provide educational (nutritional) information on food choices. Highlight information on seasonal fresh foods incorporated into the school food program. | 4 |
| Locate educational (nutritional) signage so that it is visible from the “point of choice” in the servery zone. | 4 |
| Prescreen nutritional marketing to eliminate potentially competitive foods (eg, chocolate “Got Milk?” posters). | 4 |
| Domain 7: Water Access and Vending Machines | |
| Objective: Support healthy eating using design and policy strategies focused on the school physical environment that facilitate access to drinking water and discourage unhealthy food and drink choices from vending machines. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Place vending machines selling unhealthy options away from dining and primary traffic areas (visually and spatially). | 3 |
| Provide ready access to potable water and cups in dining areas. | 1 |
| Place drinking fountains in outdoor activity areas. | 1 |
| Place drinking fountains near social/public areas. | 1 |
| Provide potable water in every classroom. | 1 |
| Incorporate advanced filtration system for the school’s potable water supply. | 1 |
| Provide free potable water sources at a rate of 1 per 100 occupants. | 1 |
| Provide at least 50% water sources conducive to filling water bottles. | 1 |
| Provide storage space for refillable water containers. | 1 |
| Replace vending machine content with healthy food and beverage options. | 1 |
| Domain 8: On-Site Food Production | |
| Objective: Provide spaces for on-site food cultivation and production, coordinated with curricular and extracurricular activities. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Create a school garden. | 2 |
| Create a school farming facility (producing, for example, tilapia, honey, or eggs). | 2 |
| Create a greenhouse facility for educational purposes and/or support of the school garden. | 2 |
| Use edible plantings for landscaping. | 2 |
| Include on-site food production resources (eg, garden, greenhouse) in construction documents for building facility, where possible. | 2 |
| Domain 9: Integrated Healthy Food Education Facilities | |
| Objective: Identify and provide programming opportunities to extend healthy food messaging throughout the school. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Provide a school wellness center readily accessible to all students, designed to support nutritional counseling, and integrated with related school functions such as the health educator or school nurse. | 4 |
| Design science laboratories conducive to food-related experiments (eg, soils laboratory). | 4 |
| Maintain a library collection dedicated to healthy eating and nutrition. | 4 |
| Design food spaces to support curricular, extracurricular, and community education. | 4 |
| Provide dedicated space for educational materials in clear view of all students. | 4 |
| Incorporate Internet access or kiosk for nutritional information and research. | 4 |
| Domain 10: Integrated Healthy Food Community | |
| Objective: Support healthy eating and local food production in the community. | |
| Design strategy | Core Principlea |
| Design food spaces for flexibility and multiple uses by school, school affiliates, and community groups. | 5 |
| Provide community garden space for local use. | 5 |
| Provide mobile/modular units that enable rapid reconfiguration of the dining area. | 5 |
| Host community farmers’ market on school grounds. | 5 |
a
Core principles: 1) provide equipment and spaces that facilitate the incorporation of fresh and healthy food choices into the school and its community; 2) provide facilities to directly engage the school community in food production and preparation; 3) apply evidence- and theory-based behavioral science principles to “nudge” the school community toward healthy eating behaviors and attitudes; 4) use building and landscape features to promote awareness of healthy and sustainable food practices; 5) conceive and articulate school spaces as community assets to multiply the benefits of school-based healthy food initiatives.