Eighty-five percent of the Arlington Elementary School’s 276 students were eligible for free or subsidized breakfasts and lunches when Seattle-based Mahlum was hired to design a replacement for its aging facility in Tacoma. So the architects put meals center stage in the new building. Just steps beyond the reception desk, a flexible cafeteria cum activities space has an adjacent kitchen—fully visible through floor-to-ceiling glass walls—with three doors: two for whole classes to file through to pick up their meal trays, the third a less visible “shortcut” for kids craving seconds.

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