Wei hsiang Chiu

The goal of Mesa is to create a comfortable dining experience for people who are uncomfortable with dining alone in restaurants. Social changes in education, the office, and the domestic space have resulted in more people living alone. As more people live solitary lives, they confine their meals to their homes. I’ve extended the comfort of home dining to restaurants with a new furniture typology that mediates privacy. Mesa does not completely isolate users; instead, it allows the user to control social interaction. Mesa manipulates visual exposure and sight lines in a restaurant through form and transparency. Traditionally, restaurants confine solo diners to bars or communal tables. By more sensitively arranging solo diners, Mesa replaces the social pressure of communal tables and the marginalization of bars with a relaxed but integrated dining experience.