A 5,000 square foot tap room with refined finishes is connected with a large breezeway framing a dramatic unveiling of Meanwhile’s stage, backyard, food court, soccer field, and its 16,000 square foot production facility planned for extensive growth.

Creating an inviting indoor/outdoor retreat in a historically industrial part of Austin provided the opportunity to create a transformative setting where customers have a wide range to experience and interact with a new destination and beer experience.

We designed the table divider box to help craft business owners and their customers stay safe and comfortable in their favorite spaces. With only a few hours of time committed, several of these affordable and attractive boxes can be constructed and secured onto existing bench seating using commonly available tools and materials.

Readily available materials, basic tools, and a simple design make for a quick, easy build.

For the past 7 years, we have been lucky enough to serve the craft alcohol community. In that time, not only have we worked with dozens of incredible craft beer and spirits brands, but more importantly, we’ve been warmly welcomed into their communities. We’ve developed real and lasting relationships with the wonderful people behind the iconic brands and beloved products.

When the COVID19 pandemic hit in the spring of 2020, we found ourselves not only concerned for our people, but also found many of our craft friends immediately and devastatingly affected by the public health crisis and its economic ramifications.

As the months wore on, whether we were talking to an owner of a brewery, distillery, winery, or other business open to the public, everyone’s concerns followed a common theme: owners wanted to safely reopen their spaces, but they wanted to do so in a responsible way that aligned the best available public health information with an enjoyable customer experience to reduce risks for their staff and their patrons.

Finished planter can be used to store menus, sanitizer, potted plants, and more.

Suddenly, our world was filled with makeshift plastic barriers, caution tape, and bottles of disinfectant – often strewn throughout a space as quickly as possible to help keep people safe by spacing them out and coordinating their movements. While we admire everyone’s speed and thoroughness of response, we think that, for only a little extra cost and effort, many common seating arrangements can be adapted to provide for a more enjoyable customer experience that feels comfortable and welcoming while maintaining compliance with public health guidelines. That is the purpose of this idea, to provide an aesthetically appealing, modular, multi-functional seating spacer that can be used now for health and safety purposes and adapted as hanging planter boxes should conditions in the future make their present purpose no longer necessary.

Disclaimer

These instructions are provided to the community free of charge and for educational purposes only. OPA Design Studio, Inc. does not warranty or guarantee the design or its application and will not be held liable for any resulting damages or injury in the construction or use of the design in any way and/or at any time. No copyright or patent is intended in this work; it may be freely adapted by the community for their own use at their own risk. Proper precautions should always be undertaken when working with power and hand tools, including but not limited to the use of proper eye and ear protection at all times. Children should never be permitted to operate dangerous equipment and should be kept away from construction areas and furniture that is not securely fixed in place. By reading the following instructions and using them to construct your own divider box, you agree to indemnify OPA Design Studio, Inc. against all resulting and associated liability, harm, or loss, and personally assume all responsibility for any claims that arise. The specifications of the design are not intended to meet CDC, state, local, or other public health authority guidance pertaining to the transmission or mitigation of communicable disease, nor any other legislation, regulation, code, etc.

Featured New Brewery: Meanwhile Brewing - Austin, Texas

Social Distancing With Planter Box Table Dividers