Kirkwood amphitheater will be TV studio, classroom

An amphitheater tucked into the back of the new Hotel at Kirkwood Center will be equal parts classroom, television studio and gourmet kitchen.

The classroom is designed to make cooking skills and culinary concepts comfortably visible to more than 100 people at a time. It also will have the potential for hundreds or thousands more to view the same culinary programming over cable TV or the Internet.

Mary Jane German, chairwoman of Kirkwood Community College's hospitality arts program, said instructors are looking forward to using the amphitheater for a host of culinary technique demonstrations and guest chef discussions.

“With the increased interest in food and cooking, many culinary graduates will find themselves in a public setting, giving their own classes and demonstrations,” German said. “Iowa farmers markets, supermarket classes and kitchen retail outlets are doing more demonstration events. Our grads can benefit from the practice and experience in this amphitheater.”

German said the classroom also will be ideal for group wine tastings, engaging the just-launched Kirkwood winery and vineyard located in the college's Ag Science department.

The Kirkwood culinary amphitheater will be equipped with four video cameras. Three will capture cooking demonstrations and comments by the presenter from a variety of overhead and high-angle points of view. A fourth camera at the back of the room will provide a high perspective on the class or audience as well as additional views of presenters and their culinary dishes.

For the benefit of students or audience members, five large-screen television monitors will be mounted to offer multiple views and access to the cooking activities and demonstrations.

Three of the monitors are mounted above and in front of the work area, providing improved viewing for back rows of spectators. Two other LCD TVs will provide optimal viewing for those sitting closer to the left and right of the central demonstration area.

Wesley Reynolds of OPN Architects in Cedar Rapids, one of the key designers of the amphitheater classroom, said visits to out-of-town facilities helped shape the final design.

“Several of us went to Chicago to observe a top-level demonstration classroom at a famous culinary school that is known around the world for top-level teaching,” Reynolds said. “As the amphitheater at Kirkwood came together, we realized it could end up being even better than the space in Chicago.”

The amphitheater also will provide a venue for educational demonstrations from well-known chefs. Preliminary plans include hosting Paolo Monti, a noted master chef and culinary instructor from northern Italy.

The 107,000-square-foot Hotel at Kirkwood Center, expected to open in late July, will be the largest teaching facility of its kind at a community college in North America.