The Enlisted Personnel Dining Facility (EPDF) is a single-story, 26,500 SF dining facility to serve 1,300 soldiers. The facility includes site development, parking lots, landscaping and sidewalks.
The primary features of the EPDF include a 624-seat dining room with a dramatic skylight located over the servery, and a commercial food preparation kitchen which provides 3,900 meals per day, served in three shifts. The kitchen is full service and equipped for on-site preparation of all meals by a staff of 54, and contains over 300 pieces of equipment. Other functions include a smaller carry-out kitchen, high capacity dish wash room, dry storage rooms, public toilet rooms, queuing area, administrative and staff support areas, service and maintenance rooms, and a two truck receiving dock. The exterior design was developed specifically for the local architecture of Fort Carson.
Another unique aspect of the design was the introduction of sun shades incorporated into the curtainwall system for the windows. These sun shades project from the face of the glass and provide solar shading thereby reducing the amount of solar gain into the space. The glass above the sun shades is opaque and has a high R value which allows a great deal of diffused daylight into the space while maintaining energy efficiency.