DIM SUM COMMUNITY KICTHEN
LOCATION
124 SHELL TOOMER PARKWAY,
AUBURN, AL 36830
PROGRAM
CULTURAL
SIZE
YEAR
2025
Located within Chewacla State Park in Auburn, Alabama, the Dim Sum Community Kitchen is organized through movement, layering, and collective gathering within the landscape. Positioned on an existing island between two sides of a creek, the project acts as a connection point within the park’s trail system and establishes a destination shaped by circulation and social exchange.
The organizational strategy of the project draws from the movement of dim sum carts weaving between tables within traditional restaurants. Paths throughout the site extend toward the building in a similar manner, allowing circulation to guide visitors gradually through the landscape and into the community kitchen. This movement continues within the building itself through layered thresholds, shifting boundaries, and open circulation spaces.
The first floor contains the kitchen and food preparation spaces, while the second level houses communal dining areas that overlook the surrounding creek and landscape. The structure is composed primarily of wood framing and screen systems inspired by Chinese spatial traditions. These layered screens create varying levels of privacy and enclosure without fully separating spaces from one another or from the exterior environment.
The building remains largely open to the outside air, allowing light, movement, sound, and atmosphere to pass continuously through the project. The concept of steam moving through cracks and openings informed the spatial organization, material systems, and environmental qualities of the design. Openings between walls, screens, and roof planes allow air and light to move throughout the building in the same way steam disperses through a dim sum basket.
The project focuses on architecture as a flexible social framework shaped through movement, layering, and collective occupation. Through circulation, screened boundaries, and openness to the landscape, the community kitchen creates a gathering space defined by connection rather than enclosure.