A hospitality building works when the guest route and the service route never cross. Guests see the lobby, the dining room and the guest room; the kitchen, deliveries, laundry and storage run behind them on a separate path, and an architect's job is to plan both routes at once and carry them through code, health department and brand review.
Temelar designs hotels, restaurants, cafés, and conference and event space across Greater Houston and Texas. We deliver architecture with structural and MEP engineering coordinated under one contract. In hospitality that matters: the hood, the grease line and the plumbing stack are engineering problems that begin as floor plan decisions.
We do not build. The general contractor is yours; our role is the drawings, the approvals, and an independent set of eyes while construction runs.
Key takeaways
- Hospitality projects succeed or fail on adjacency: the kitchen, storage and receiving have to be planned with the dining room or lobby, not fitted into leftover space.
- A restaurant usually answers to at least three reviewers: the city or county building department, the local health department, and the fire marshal, with a brand reviewer added for franchised concepts.
- Kitchen exhaust, grease duct, make-up air and the grease interceptor drive structural, roof and site decisions, so they are located in schematic design.
- Hotels are governed by the repeatable guest room module, and small decisions inside that module multiply across every floor.
- In Houston's heat and humidity, moisture control is a design issue for any hotel: ventilation, wall assemblies and HVAC choice decide whether rooms stay dry.
- Design through permit typically runs five to eight months, varying with brand review, health department queues and jurisdiction.
- Typical size
- 4–60k SF
- Design to permit
- 5–8 mo
- Occupancy types
- A-2 / R-1
- Review tracks
- 3+
What kinds of hospitality projects does Temelar design?
Every hospitality building is a stage with a working building hidden behind it. The types differ mainly in how large the back of house is and who else gets a say in the design.
Select-service hotels
Rooms-led hotels with limited food service, where the repeatable room module and a compact back of house drive the budget.
Extended-stay hotels
Suites with kitchenettes for longer stays, which adds plumbing, venting and electrical load to every room.
Boutique hotels
Independent or soft-branded hotels where character carries the brand, often inside an existing building.
Full-service and conference
Hotels with restaurants, banquet rooms and meeting space, and a back of house sized to serve all of it.
Restaurants
Full-service dining rooms and quick-service concepts, from ground-up pads to in-line tenant spaces.
Cafés and bakeries
Smaller footprints with serious equipment, where ovens, a service counter and a short queue share very little room.
Banquet, event and conference space is its own category even when it sits inside a hotel. A ballroom is a large assembly space with a kitchen behind it, a pre-function area in front of it, and a service corridor that lets staff reset the room without walking guests past carts.
Many restaurants and cafés are build-outs inside a shopping center or mixed-use podium, with a landlord's criteria and an existing shell to work within. That work runs as tenant improvement, and the shopping center side of it is covered on our retail sector page.
Guest journey vs. service journey: how should a hospitality plan work?
Every hospitality plan contains two journeys. The guest journey is what a visitor experiences: arrival, a host stand or front desk, the dining room, the guest room, the meeting room. The service journey is how the business runs: deliveries arrive, go into storage, get prepped and cooked, and go out to the guest, while dirty dishes, linen and trash travel back the other way.
The diagram below shows the principle. Guests enter and move through the front of house, which is the dining room in a restaurant and the lobby in a hotel. Deliveries come in at a separate service entry, go to storage and receiving, then to the kitchen. The two routes meet at exactly one controlled point, the pass or servery, and the guest route (one color) and the service route (the other) are drawn so that they never cross.
When those routes cross, the building tells on itself. A delivery dolly rolls through the dining room at lunch, housekeeping carts share the guest elevator, a trash run passes the patio. That is a planning problem, and an expensive one to fix once walls exist.
Guest journey
Entry, lobby or host stand.
Dining room, rooms, meeting space.
The meeting point
The pass or servery.
One door, one counter, one window.
Service journey
Service entry and receiving.
Storage, kitchen, laundry, housekeeping.
How much of the building should be back of house?
Owners want the most revenue-producing area they can get. The back of house is where that instinct meets reality. How much kitchen, storage and support space a project needs depends on the menu, the service style, the delivery schedule and the volume, not on a rule of thumb. A scratch kitchen needs more prep and cold storage than a concept that receives prepared ingredients, and a hotel that runs its own laundry needs far more support space than one that sends linen out.
Our approach is to size the back of house from the operation first, then give the rest to the guest.
“Guests pay for the front of house.
The back of house is what makes it pay.”
How should a restaurant or hotel kitchen be planned?
A commercial kitchen is a production line. Food should move in one direction, from receiving to storage to prep to the cooking line to the pass, with the dish area positioned so dirty ware comes back without crossing the clean flow.
- 01
Receiving
service door
- 02
Storage
walk-ins, dry goods
- 03
Prep
cold and hot
- 04
Cooking line
under the hood
- 05
The pass
to the guest
The stations that have to fit
- Receiving: a door, a landing and room to check deliveries.
- Walk-in cooler and freezer: large equipment with slab, power and refrigeration needs.
- Dry storage: shelving sized to the delivery cycle.
- Prep: sinks, work tables and prep refrigeration.
- The line: cooking equipment under the hood, laid out around the chef's workflow.
- Dish: the dish machine, drop-off counter, sinks and clean-ware storage.
Working with a food service consultant
On most restaurant and hotel projects, the kitchen equipment layout comes from a food service consultant or kitchen designer. We make that layout a building: walls, floor drains, floor sinks, utility connections, hood locations and ceiling space above the line all get coordinated into the architectural and MEP drawings.
Bring them in early. A kitchen layout that arrives after the building is designed forces compromises in the line, the hood or the dining room.
| Decision | Kitchen fitted in laterLeftover space | Kitchen planned with the dining roomOne plan |
|---|---|---|
| Hood location | Wherever a roof opening still works. | Set with the structure and roof layout. |
| Grease duct | Long runs through finished space. | Short, direct route to the roof. |
| Walk-ins | Placed where a wall allows. | Next to receiving and prep. |
| Deliveries | Share a route with guests. | Own entry and path to storage. |
| Permit review | Health comments, redesign, resubmittal. | Health review planned into the set. |
Hood exhaust, grease duct and make-up air
The kitchen hood captures grease-laden heat and smoke over the cooking line. The grease duct carries it to the roof, usually in a continuous welded duct with required clearances, access for cleaning, and a fire-rated enclosure where it passes through floors. Every cubic foot of air the hood pulls out has to come back in as make-up air, or the kitchen goes negative, doors slam, and the dining room feels drafty.
Those three elements land on the roof, in the structure and on the electrical service, which is why we set hood locations in schematic design.
The grease interceptor
A grease interceptor, often a buried tank outside the building, catches fats, oils and grease from food service drains before they reach the public sewer. Its size and location follow the plumbing code and the local utility's requirements, and it needs truck access for pumping, which affects the site plan.
Brand standards, franchise design review and PIPs
A franchised hotel or restaurant carries a second rulebook on top of the building code. The brand's design standards cover room sizes, finishes, signage, lighting, prototype layouts and the guest experience, and the brand usually reviews the design at several stages before approving construction.
Adapting a prototype to a real site
A prototype is drawn for an ideal site, though, and Houston sites are rarely ideal. Irregular lots, detention requirements, parking counts, deed restrictions and utility locations all push back on the standard plan. We adapt the prototype to meet the brand's intent and the local rules at once, and document the variances the brand must approve.
What is a PIP?
A property improvement plan, or PIP, is the brand's list of required upgrades for an existing hotel. PIPs are typically issued when a hotel changes ownership, converts from one brand to another, or renews its franchise. A PIP might call for new guest room finishes, updated bathrooms, lobby and breakfast area changes, accessibility upgrades, and life safety or systems work, often with deadlines attached.
We turn a PIP into a scope that can be permitted, priced and phased. That includes checking which items trigger permits, fire marshal or accessibility review, and flagging where an old building cannot meet a requirement without a variance.
Brand standards and PIP terms are set by each franchise agreement and change over time. We design to the current standards the brand issues for your property, and the brand's written approval governs what gets built.
Which approvals does a hospitality project need in Houston?
A hospitality project runs several reviews in parallel. The building department reviews the permit set, the fire marshal reviews sprinklers, alarms and kitchen fire suppression, and the health department reviews anything that serves food. Franchise projects add the brand.
City and county review
Inside the City of Houston there is no conventional zoning, but there are development rules: Chapter 42 for lots and setbacks, parking requirements, stormwater detention, and private deed restrictions that can be enforced. Sugar Land, Katy, Pearland, The Woodlands and other surrounding communities have their own review paths, and many have zoning that decides whether a restaurant or hotel is allowed at all. Energy code compliance is part of every permit set. Checking all of this before you buy or lease is what a feasibility study is for.
Health department plan review
Any project that prepares or serves food goes through health department plan review. The reviewer looks at the kitchen layout, finishes, sinks and equipment, and wants to see that food flows safely from receiving to service.
- Kitchen layout with every piece of equipment
- Equipment schedule with specifications
- Hand sinks at prep and service areas
- Three-compartment and mop sinks
- Cleanable floor, wall and ceiling finishes
- Walk-in and storage locations
- Grease interceptor size and location
- Restrooms available to staff
Requirements differ between city and county health departments, so we confirm the local checklist first.
Accessibility review in Texas
In Texas, a covered project with an estimated construction cost of $50,000 or more has to be registered with TDLR, reviewed and inspected by a Registered Accessibility Specialist under the Texas Accessibility Standards. That applies to most hotel and restaurant projects, including renovations. Our guide to TDLR accessibility review walks through the process.
Occupant load, egress and restrooms
Dining rooms, ballrooms and meeting rooms are generally assembly occupancies, which means the building code calculates how many people they can hold from the floor area and how it is used. That number, the occupant load, then decides how many exits the room needs, how wide the doors and corridors must be, whether sprinklers are triggered, and how many restrooms the building needs.
Restroom count surprises owners most. Added seats can mean added fixtures, and fixtures need floor area, so we calculate the occupant load early and make seats, exits and restrooms agree before the layout is final.
Acoustics
Hard surfaces look good in an empty dining room and sound terrible in a full one; ceiling treatment, wall panels and upholstery fix most of it. In hotels, the building code sets minimum sound ratings for walls and floors between guest rooms, and many brands ask for more, especially near elevators, ice machines and meeting rooms.
What drives hotel design: rooms, systems and moisture
A hotel is one guest room drawn very carefully and then repeated. Every inch in the room module multiplies across the building, so we spend real design time on it.
- 01RoofHVAC, ventilation, exhaust fans
- 02Guest floorsrepeated room modules, stacked wet walls
- 03Amenity levelpool, fitness, meeting rooms
- 04Ground floorlobby, breakfast, dining
- 05Back of houselaundry, receiving, engineering
Rooms, corridors and stacked plumbing
Guest rooms are typically paired so bathrooms sit back to back on a shared wet wall, and rooms stack so those wet walls line up from floor to floor. Stacked plumbing is simpler to build, easier to maintain, and quieter. Double-loaded corridors, with rooms on both sides, are the efficient norm, and their length is governed by exit distance to the stairs.
PTAC, VTAC or a central system?
Hotel HVAC generally comes in three families. A PTAC, or packaged terminal air conditioner, is the through-wall unit under the window: low first cost, easy to replace, but noisy and visible. A VTAC, or vertical packaged unit, sits in a closet and is ducted into the room, which is quieter and frees the exterior wall. Central systems, such as water-source heat pumps, fan coils or variable refrigerant systems, offer more control and quieter rooms at a higher first cost. The brand, the budget and the climate all shape the choice.
Heat, humidity and mold control in Houston
Houston's humid air is the most common cause of hotel moisture problems. A room unit that cools quickly and shuts off can leave the air damp, and outdoor air leaking into a building under negative pressure brings moisture into wall cavities. Common responses include a dedicated outdoor air system that dries ventilation air before it reaches corridors and rooms, keeping the building slightly positive, and designing exterior wall assemblies so moisture is not trapped behind impermeable interior finishes such as vinyl wallcovering.
In a Gulf Coast hotel, the envelope and the HVAC system are one moisture strategy. Choosing them separately is how rooms end up smelling musty within a few seasons.
Pools, fitness and laundry
Public pools carry their own state and local health rules, and indoor pools add serious humidity and ventilation demands. Fitness rooms need acoustic separation from nearby guest rooms. On-premise laundry needs water, gas or power, dryer exhaust, lint control and a loading route that stays out of guest areas.
Accessible and hearing-accessible rooms
Hotels are required to provide a minimum number of accessible guest rooms based on total room count, including rooms with roll-in showers, and a separate count of rooms with communication features for guests who are deaf or hard of hearing. Those rooms have to be dispersed among room types rather than grouped in one corner. We plan them into the room mix from the first stacking diagram.
How long does hospitality design take, and can you renovate while open?
Design through permit typically runs about five to eight months. Brand review, the health department queue and the jurisdiction move it most.
- 013–5 weeks
Programming & brand intake
Operations, menu or room mix, and brand standards set the brief.
- 024–6 weeks
Schematic design
Plan both routes, locate the kitchen, hood and core.
- 034–6 weeks
Design development
Coordinate kitchen equipment, MEP and structure.
- 046–9 weeks
Construction documents
Produce the coordinated permit and brand set.
- 055–8 weeks
Permit, health & brand review
Answer comments across every reviewer.
Planning ranges, not a project quote. Timing varies with owner decisions, project complexity, and jurisdiction workload.
Renovating while the hotel or restaurant stays open
Many hotel renovations happen while guests are still checking in. That turns the drawings into a phasing plan as much as a design: which floors come out of service, and where the construction entrance goes.
- 01
Survey existing conditions and confirm what the PIP or scope requires
- 02
Divide the work into phases that keep rooms and revenue online
- 03
Keep exits, alarms and sprinklers working in every phase
- 04
Separate construction routes, noise and dust from guest areas
- 05
Permit the full scope, with phasing shown in the set
- 06
Review each phase on site before the next begins
Restaurants usually close for a remodel instead, so the goal is a set that clears review the first time and keeps the closure short.
Frequently asked questions
An architect plans the dining room, kitchen, restrooms and service areas as one layout, coordinates the kitchen equipment plan into the building, and produces the drawings the building department, fire marshal and health department review. At Temelar that includes the structural and MEP engineering for the hood, grease duct, make-up air and plumbing under one contract.
Yes. Any project that prepares or serves food goes through health department plan review, and the health department inspects before it issues the permit to operate. Submitting the kitchen layout, equipment and finishes early keeps that review from holding up the opening.
A PIP, or property improvement plan, is a franchisor's list of required upgrades for an existing hotel. It is usually issued at a change of ownership, a brand conversion or a franchise renewal. An architect turns the PIP into a permitted, priced and phased scope of work.
Design through permit usually runs about five to eight months for a hospitality project. Brand review, health department review and the jurisdiction's permit queue cause most of the variation.
Yes, and many are. The work is phased floor by floor or wing by wing, with exits, alarms and sprinklers kept working and construction routes separated from guests.
Yes. We adapt brand prototypes to real sites, prepare submittals for brand design review, and translate PIPs into construction documents. The brand's written approval and current standards govern the design.
Planning a hotel, restaurant or event space?
Send us the site or the space, the concept, and any brand standards you already have through the contact page. We will tell you which reviews apply, how the back of house should fit, and what the schedule realistically looks like. For how one contract covers architecture and engineering, read one contract, not four, or see the full scope of architecture services. Already have a design team? Owner's representation puts a licensed architect on your side of the table.
