Post Date: September 11, 2018 11:10 AM
This week has begun the start of our proposal organization. We are beginning to outline the introduction, background, and methodology sections that will be written by the end of this term. This process is proving difficult but crucial to the overall success of our paper. The research that we are conducting this week is more in line with each section of the paper that will be written. We have discovered new information on complex management as well as the history of the job market. In addition to the information gained through our research, we have also contacted an experienced kitchen designer that has informed us of the time frame required to complete the construction and arrangement of a kitchen, which may conflict with our main interest of creating a startup company.
-Peter
Post Date: September 11, 2018 11:41 AM
Our team has been developing background research and outlines of introductory sections, and are just now moving on to determining what specifically we are going to do. To this end I have found a previous IQP from WPI yielding relevant results. Part of our goal is to design a startup factory space that inspires and encourages young Venetians to come create startups in the area. To do this, we need to figure out what features they may want. An IQP from 2008, "Challenges and Opportunities of Young Venetians" focused on defining what specific factors cause young Venetians to leave Venice. The results they found that are relevant to us are that Young Venetians care about two factors that are lacking in Venice: social life and recreation. They also found that Italian women are significantly more likely to join the workforce if they have access to day-cares. This means that we should try to create events or programs in our spaces that encourage social life and recreation and we should address childcare to some extent, even if only indicating where the nearest day-care center is. Through these considerations we hope to develop plans that will make our space more desirable, maybe even irresistible.
-Colin
Post Date: September 11, 2018 12:45 PM
The past week has revealed some interesting results from our research. We recently discovered planning, designing, and opening a restuarant is an arduous process that can often require over six months of effort, which is beyond our fourteen week time scope. This is based off advice given by a TriMark Food Services representative we contacted, who specifically works as a restaurant planner in America. He specifically noted the time can be extended by weeks if international food laws are to be considered. As a result, we may have to revise the objective for the food cafeteria for H3 as we simply would not be able to open a full kitchen in our time frame. Instead, we may have to simply begin the process for the kitchen planning and subsitute the room with a refrigerator and microwave for a temporary solution.
Here is the full response from our initial inquiries
"At TriMark, we design, supply, and furnish commercial kitchens that include function, flow, and profitability to our customers. Proper design process starts with an Architects shell of the space in CAD, then several discussions with the owner and chef reviewing the menu so we know what equipment is required. The initial design can take up to two weeks through design engineering, with up to several months of revisions before we all agree on a final design. After our work has been completed, the architect completes their part and provides to the owner, a “permit set” for the city or town to approve. Once approved and a contract has been awarded to us, there is a 8-10 week process or procurement, staging, and project management before we get to the install date. This time line is of course for the USA, and adds several weeks if not more for International kitchen installations. All of this of course is starting at ground zero, and if you have most of this work completed, the time line is much shorter."
-Ryan
Post Date: September 11, 2018 1:30 PM
In general, nailing down our constituency has become an important part of our research at the moment. While generating ideas for the interior design and management of H3 are essential to our problem, it is incredibly important that we tailor this space to those who are most likely to use it. This research is being done so that the space matches the needs and wants of its potential visitors and users. By matching these two, it is more likely that the space will better generate revenue for SerenDPT and help balance the costs of these design implementations.
In addition to this research, we also met with a research librarian on Monday to discuss how our research is going thus far. Overall, the librarian noted that we are currently using a lot of popular sources but we should definitely seek to find more scholarly sources, such as studies and research papers. The popular sources we have found, which focus on the economic state of Venice, were noted as being useful for their local perspective, but should certainly be supplemented by papers and research from international organizations or more formal writings. All-in-all, the meeting with the librarian went very well. We now have a better understanding of the sources we should be seeking, learned better methods of refining our search terms, and gained more ideas for where to look for documents that may be related to our research.
-Alex