On Wednesday, February 17th, we (Iowa State University’s Las Vegas Food Hub Studio) were fortunate to have a consultation with two RDG Planning and Design representatives, Sustainability Strategist, Pat Boddy and Landscape Architect, Mike Bell. The purpose of this meeting was to receive critical and constructive commentary on our initial concepts and preliminary research. Occurring in two parts, it began with a larger studio presentation and question session followed by smaller conversations with our respective teams. The following is what emerged from our discussions with them:

• As a studio they believed that we were missing information regarding the employment numbers in the city around our sites. In knowing these statistics we could better target the demographic of our potential occupants. For instance, if we knew that a large school was nearby we may consider sizing an after school program in our plans.
• As a studio we needed to fine tune the layout of our presentation as well as consider the audience that we are presenting it to eventually. As architects, planners, and designers its very easy to get involved in the details and not clearly relate the component back to the bigger picture. So, to essentially resolve this we needed to create stronger takeaways by following the rule of thumb of explaining to our audience what we are going to talk about, talk about it, then summarize the points.
  

  Pat Boddy, Sustainability Strategist

  

  Mike Bell, Landscape Architect

Within our smaller groups, we received more tailored feedback. Our group spoke with Mike Bell and he commented that:

• Our wellness concept was interesting however, we may want to make sure each of our well components clearly mirror in our program. Ask ourselves how is wellness experienced?
• Our buildings at present is a bit institutional,commercial office like and we need to incorporate things in its surrounding to make it more appealing to the streetscape, be it through landscape or facade design.
• We should consider the circulation of our space  by expanding certain program spaces (for example, our kitchen space on the first floor).
• We should think about how wellness is experienced not only visually, but through lighting, smell, acoustically, ect.

Overall, I walked away from this first meeting with a positive outlook that what we are aspiring to accomplish something that could truly add value to Las Vegas