Jeramee Fajardo

Ode to Diners: Spatial Democracy in Dining Societies 

The diner is an archetype of affordable and accessible dining, as well as a symbol of cultural comfort for the working class in North America. They are venues for everyday meals, with a spatial democracy of inclusivity, and a curious mix of both anonymity and familiarity. Their decline as a consequence of chain restaurants and more commercialized forms of dining have made the diner an ambiguous icon. Emerging as mobile food wagons delivering meals to factory workers in the late 1800s, the diner has transformed over time as a cultural space, persisting through economic depressions, and gentrification. Today, the diner is threatened by globalization and economic uncertainties exacerbated by the recent global pandemic (Healy,2020). This decline raises questions about its persistence as a symbol for the resilient working class and as an artifact and cultural space for trans-generational communities and a regional ethos? 

This thesis asks: How can the democratic nature of the diner help local societies prosper? Is it possible to preserve its iconic identity within the modern North American mythology, while reimagining a new future in which the diner becomes intertwined with the needs of present communities? Will this institution exist only as a memory, or could its architecture and its latent historical significance be reconfigured to respond and resonate with contemporary dining experiences? Ultimately, can the diner reinvigorate the life within cities through the re-instatement of its identity as a local beacon for communities to converge and thrive?

The “diner society” is considered as including the spirit of its dining scenarios, cuisines, tectonic qualities, materiality, and social configurations, as well as local food economies, inclusive dining arrangements, social events and festivities. This re-interpretation of the diner seeks to articulate a dining architecture for communities by bringing attention to its intrinsic social qualities that intersect cultures and generations. The diner will act as an analogue for ways in which architecture can be engaged to participate in the construction of cultural and socio-spatial scenarios that challenge the status quo for contemporary food and dining practices. 
Working with interrelated and multi-scalar approaches – from a single table, to a collection of tables in a diner, to a society formed around the diner in the city – this thesis creates a contemporary diner in Winnipeg’s North End that will ultimately serve as a catalyst for local activity, public agency and democratic space to grow within communities. 

This thesis attempts to reveal the latent significance of the diner institution in contemporary society. Avoiding nostalgia, the design strategy will project its memory towards the creation of a future democratized dining society. This contemporary diner will advocate for an architectural fusion materialized through reciprocal relationships between the public realm, dining practices, and sustainable food processes. This new cultural institution will aim to create a diner society for Winnipeg’s North End, by designing supporting infrastructures to support an existing diner (Eddy’s Place) within the site of Selkirk Avenue and to also help the revitalization and growth of the neighbourhood.