fbpx
All Posts By

TKA

06.02 2021

TK Architects 40th Aniversary Celebration!

By | No Comments

TK Architects International is celebrating our 40th Anniversary as a firm. We wanted to reflect on our past, celebrate our present, and project our future. We wanted to share it with all the people that have joined us along this journey, including clients, contractors, vendors, friends, and family. As we have grown we have added services, sectors, and diverse international locales. Social media became the platform to bridge distance and a worldwide pandemic. We hope you enjoy the campaign and invite you to share your stories, comments, and memories with us.

Relive the anniversary content with us! Scroll through and see what TKA has been, and IS all about from past to present. Below is all of our anniversary content organized by sector.

Each image below is a playlist. Kick back with some popcorn, and see some History, and meet the people who built TKA. Also, enjoy content from: Cinema, Food & Beverage, and Entertainment!

We hope you will enjoy the content and join us on Facebook and LinkedIn to share some of your favorite moments with us!

Full youtube Playlist HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aZY9hedVAY&list=PLVqK0Gnu_6-gCnl2Zxps8jpDm5y-rXfre

TK ARCHITECTS HISTORY

Sr. Principal MIKE CUMMINGS kicks off our INTERVIEW SERIES and talks about how TK Architects got involved in the cinema industry. Follow along in this TKA HISTORY Playlist and hear from a number of our Principals including Jack Muffoletto, Tamra Knapp, Brad Reynolds, and more! This playlist is packed with TKA origin stories, memorandums, challenges, influences, and acquaintances that help to mold TK Architects into the industry-leading company that it is today.
(15 videos)

CINEMA

See where it all started in the CINEMA for TK Architects! Enjoy our story from the outside to the inside and all around. Grab some popcorn and join us down the promenade to the BIG screen!
(10 Videos)

FOOD & BEVERAGE

Food and Beverage is not only a stand-alone market sector. It spans across various market sectors as a component of them.  TK has worked on a variety of projects encompassing all ranges of Food and Beverage elements from small kiosks and self-service counters to full-service restaurants.  Having engineering in-house is a particular benefit to the Food and Beverage sector work as F&B equipment is specialized and required focused MEP engineering. When you add our special relationship with equipment vendors, the project work is streamlined for client success.
(5 videos)

ENTERTAINMENT FACILITIES

The evolution of TK Architects from Cinema to holistic Entertainment Facilities seemed to happen naturally due to the synergy that cinema and other entertainment opportunities bring. Entertainment Facilities offer a large revenue stream from Arcades, Bowling, Mini Golf, VR, AR, and Escape rooms.
(5 Videos)

Thank you for following along with our 40th-anniversary content and us over the years. We had a great time creating the content and hearing some of the stories from the past, from the people who built TKA to be what it is today.

Please follow along on social media as we open a new chapter in TK Architects history!

12.14 2020

Welcome to Bliss Point – Experiential Dining

By | No Comments

The new table, experiential restaurants are in vogue.  Dining out isn’t only about eating and drinking, it’s about the entire dining experience.  Diners want to feel like they are getting more than a meal.  They expect more out of their time at the bar or restaurant – they want that extraordinary experience.  They crave that “experience” that creates memories, and with this, they are willing to pay extra. 

With the influence of today’s technology and trends providing a memorable experience has become a necessity.  Today’s patrons are searching for that “new and exciting experience” it’s culinary wanderlust.  The basic elements of operating an alluring restaurant are still very important – great food, first-rate drinks, good service, cleanliness, and appealing design.  Blending the experience with the deliciousness of each bit is how to optimize your success.

Welcome to Bliss Point – experiential dining that looks to augment your experience with flavor!  Renowned American market researcher and psychophysicist Howard Moskowitz describes bliss point as “that sensory profile where you like the food the most.”  It is the combination of sugar, salt, and fat that act synergistically and are more rewarding than any one ingredient.  This is the same essence that is used in good design – the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Bliss Point is a case study that TK Architects has developed to create a uniquely designed space that puts experiential dining at the for-front.  The use of technology, innovation, quirky themes, unexpected strategies, and thoughtful design geared towards creating extraordinary encounters for your guest. The notion of creating immersive spaces that really drives the experience, consumers are responding to these extravagant forms of design and décor.

Bliss Point is entered through a portal intended to transport patrons from their daily rituals into a multi-sensory dining experience.  Patrons are greeted by a host, an astronaut, and their pet tiger (this place is Instagram heaven)!  The restaurant is organized around a central bar (be careful not to scare the flamingos) that provides views to each unique experiential dining room.  The experiences are as follows:

  • Experiential food museum – a hybrid space devoted to a cultural phenomenon of putting food on the art spaces table.  The gallery walls liven the museum space with peculiar art pieces.
  • Hipster family space – an era-specific space that conjures up days of the past and fun that only the undecade could bring!  The nostalgia-centric experience created by this space is one that is rooted in the desire of the traveler to feel connected to a world that they knew.
  • Pop-up dining event – the focal point here isn’t necessarily the food, but the combination of the senses that create something unique.
  • Multi-sensory dining experience – the use of projection mapping and active lighting enhance the dining experience.  The high-tech design allows for an ever-changing space and offers the patrons the ability to be transported anywhere as a paring component with the course.
  • Dining pods – social distancing at its finest, diners are cocooned in glass houses.  Individual pods let patrons experience intimate dining within an active space.
    • Experimental cocktail lounge – boozy lounge space that adds another layer to the experiential atmosphere bringing smoke and stage performers.

    Turning dining into an event may be the key to unlocking a higher check average. Check out the survey data from EventBrite:

    • 75% of people believe unique dining experiences are worth paying more for
    • 50% of people would pay more for the exact same menu if it had a chef interaction
    • 59% of people say cost does not impact their attendance but the menu, uniqueness, and location do

    So the stakes seem high for restaurant operations to excel at making every dining experience memorable.  Given the passion for adventure, it’s no wonder that consumers express a preference for paying for an experience rather a product.  Blending product and performance may be a recipe for success.  TK Architects is a leader in the experiential design market – let us help you in creating your dream.

    12.10 2020

    Mike Cummings Awarded Lifetime Achievement Award

    By | No Comments

    Who is CTC?

    The Cinema Technology Community (CTC), is an independent, not-for-profit membership organization that aims to advance the use of technology to enhance all aspects of the movie-going experience.

    With over 450 members in more than 65 countries, the members represent all facets of the film industry; from film distributors to cinema exhibitors, integrators, manufacturers, journalists, and thought leaders. The membership community is united by a shared passion for technology and the cinematic experience.

    What is the Lifetime Achievement Award?

    The Lifetime Achievement Award this year is awarded to not one but two individuals, rewarded to individuals to recognize their efforts to support the cinema industry.

    On November 26th, 2020 CTC announced the recipients of its prestigious 2020 awards at its appropriately special online event, ‘One Community Day’. The awards night recognized individuals and organizations that continue to drive excellence in movie-going through the use of technology and outstanding service to the industry.

    Representing TK Architects, our very own Mike Cummings. Mike is being presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award for being a “true technologist” for his understanding of the cinema industry. Mike and TKA are renowned as one of the first to pioneer in the use of 3D designs to build cinemas. As architects moved from 2D pencil-to-paper drawings to Digital 3D Building Information Modeling, TK recognized the opportunities that 3D design could bring. Providing clients with digital walk-thrus of cinemas while still in the concept stage, this technology proved to be better collaboration with project partners while reducing on-site construction costs and wastage. This technological revolution has enabled TK to continue to be at the forefront of global design creating amazing cinema spaces for all to enjoy.

    Mike is not only a major part of TK Architects, he is also a big part of the cinema industry. This well-deserved recognition makes us proud and we hope he is planning a big party!

    CTC Annual Awards 2020

    Join film-critic, author and broadcaster Mark Kermode and CTC’s own ‘Last Projectionist Standing’ Dave Norris in recognizing the 2020 Award Recipients in the video below:

    Visit video on youtube for timestamp to Mikes Lifetime Achievement presentation: https://youtu.be/47poWiqsoJI (click “more” in the description)

    Covid Innovation Award – Vista Entertainment Solutions
    Cinema of the Year – Nightflix Cinemas
    Rising Star – Alice Tentori
    Technology Pioneer – Dolby Laboratories
    Outstanding Achievement – CJ Cinema Summit
    Lifetime Achievement – Mike Cummings
    Lifetime Achievement – Peter Hall

    For further information on CTC including membership opportunities, visit www.cinema-technology.com or email info@cinema-technology.com

    10.29 2020

    Reimagining The Restaurant: Week 6

    By | No Comments

    COVID EDITION

    OCTOBER 2020

    Idea #7

    Food trucks were a hit before Covid.  Not only are they convenient, deployable, and festive but they’ve been elevated from a culinary view point in the past decade.

    This concept builds a restaurant around the food truck phenomenon that is all about flexibility.   From a construction point of view, this building is columns, beams, roof and a lot of garage doors.  Spatially, this is a dining space with a block of restrooms, no kitchen, no coolers, no hoods.  The kitchen is in the vehicles and can be supplemented as needed.  On nice days this can be an open air restaurant, almost like a biergarten or farmers market.  As the weather turns, the doors come down and the restaurant transforms into a light filled, cozy conditioned space.

    This concept solves the awkward patron-vendor height difference by elevating the dining platform for customers.  Along either side of the truck lane is a rail with a bar-top for fall protection and dining space.   Although there are a number of ways this concept could be implemented aesthetically, this one played around with a garage theme and even teases the idea of a bar-mobile with horseshoe bar seating.  Durable polished concrete floors, exposed structure, supersized graphics, and ample natural light provide style on a budget.  The color comes through vibrant furniture and the trucks themselves.

    You could also imagine other functions or revenues that could happen in a structure like this: games, retail pop-ups, local collaborations, events.  Ultimately this concept takes the food truck festival, a popular trend that happens on street curbs and gravel lots, and elevates it, creating a flexible year-round space for dinging, commerce, and gathering.

    Well, that wraps up our 6 week exploration of the Food and Beverage facility of the future.  We hope you enjoyed this playful series and maybe came away with some ideas.

    Do you have one you’d like to see tested out and illustrated?  We’d love to hear about it!