Universal City Fukuoka Design Workshop 2016

Fukuoka food stalls are known as a leading gourmet town nationwide. The Universal Fukuoka City Design Workshop 2016 worked with design partners (food stall owners, overseas visitors) to propose universal design food stalls from Fukuoka meant to be even more fun for both overseas tourists and locals, and to make them easier for owners to use.

Team A: Umbrella Stall
The concept is a transparent stall that can be put up by one person, like an umbrella.

・Stall that can be easily assembled by the owner
Assembling a stall is a big physical burden for the owner. Opening and closing the roof is especially difficult for shorter women and older owners because the work takes places high up. To that end, we designed a food stall roof construction that can be assembled by one person. The user places hooks in the floor of the space to be used for the stall, uses strength from pushing the trailer, and the roof opens automatically.

・A design whose appearance makes it easy for foreigners to enter
It’s difficult for foreigners to set foot in a food stall even if they are interested. Therefore, we designed a stall with good physical and psychological transparency that makes it easy to see what it is from the outside, and also makes it easier to enter.

Team B: Leisure Stall
The concept is a stall not seen until now, that offers a leisurely and high-quality experience in which anyone can relax
One of the problems with typical food stalls is that they have a large number of plates and glasses to support a large volume of customers, and this results in a great deal of time and effort for set up and cleanup. From the customer’s perspective, we also learned that some of the reasons for shying away from food stalls is that they “can’t relax in a food stall” and that they have concerns about cleanliness and quality.
The leisure stall features a reservation system for a small number of customers, and offers high-quality ingredients produced in Kyushu for local consumption, and pesticide-free tea. Because the stall emphasizes a leisurely way to spend time, without focusing on turnover rate like typical food stalls, only a bare minimum of plates and bowls is needed, and owners can use the leftover time to courteously attend to customers.
This stall uses tatami mats instead of chairs, to produce a relaxed atmosphere. The tatami module is removable to allow for wheelchairs. This concept also takes the management side into consideration, including storage space under the floor. The leisure stall concept opens up a yet unseen genre, and creates a new path for Fukuoka food stall culture.

Team C: Trip Yatai Fukuoka
The concept is a stall that acts as an entryway to Fukuoka sightseeing.

This is a space for getting sightseeing information while enjoying the charms of a typical “yatai,” an icon of downtown Fukuoka.

The host or hostess is stationed at the stall, and by chatting in a typical Fukuoka food stall atmosphere, offers deep information about Fukuoka that can’t be found on the internet. Maybe they even offer some life coaching from time to time.
Information about Fukuoka that would normally be set up at public spaces that act as entryways to the city, like airports and train stations, is conveyed in an intimate way to visitors from overseas.

Customers can get a taste of local Fukuoka products like Yame green tea, umegae mochi, Amaou strawberries, and Hakata torimon (local bean paste snack).
Furthermore, this is a universal food stall design with ample space for those in wheelchairs, sightlines set at a height even children can enjoy, and stools for holding travelers’ luggage.
The stall uses benches so that customers can have a sense of intimacy with those next to them, one of the appeals of the food stall.
Trip Yatai Fukuoka is a Fukuoka food stall business model proposal that should be pleasing to tourists, to stall owners, to the government, and to the Fukuoka Prefecture Mobile Food and Beverage Union.