Savor the tasty side of historic Auburn

University’s teaching hotel, restaurants beckon visitors. Indoor elements find their way outside, where spaces are infused with colors, textures.

Long established as a historic college town, Auburn sits on the eastern edge of central Alabama, just miles southwest of Atlanta. Along with its neighbor, Opelika, it is Alabama’s fastest-growing metropolitan area, with a population of just over 150,000. The university boasts 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and it is a major driver of the city in terms of economy, workforce, cultural offerings. And now it can add burgeon

scene to that list. Auburn University has had a hospitality management program for years, but it a whole new era with the opening last fall of the $110 million, 155,000-square-foot Tony & Libba Rane Culinary Science Center designed by Cooper Carry and The Johnson Studio at Cooper

“This is the best hospitality and culinary sciences facility on the planet,” said Hans van der Reijden, founder and CEO of Ithaka Hospitality Partners, management company the

of the Culinary Science Center. “Anyone who stays or eats here contributes to the

of 300 students.” So what does that mean for visitors to Auburn? For starters, a beautiful new place to stay the night. Laurel Hotel & Spa, part of the Culinary Science Center, is Alabama’s first ultra-luxury hotel as well as an experiential teaching hotel for students. It fea

16 guest rooms, 10 suites, six residences, a signature spa, a fitness studio and a rooftop pool with a bar and garden.

arrive, are swept up to The Library on the 6th floor, a club-like concierge reception area staffed by hospitality management students serv

“Everything we do inside, we’re doing outside now,” says Felicia Feaster, the editor of home ment website HGTV.com and a College Park resident. Feaster specializes in interior design trends, and she’s noticed how many of those are spilling to the exterior spaces of the home, too.

Atlanta’s denizens appreciated patio spaces long before the pandemic — recall wait times for alfresco brunches on bluebird spring days — but the global event presented an opportunity to transform their own spaces at home.

Data shared by Yardzen, an online landscape design service, sheds some light on how Atlantans approached their outdoor spaces. Fire pits jumped up 200% year over year, and nearly 40% of Atlanta projects include them. Atlantans working with Yardzen also opted for relaxation features, with hot tubs becoming 132% more popular year over year, and outdoor lighting (i.e., ground lanterns and string lights) increased 150%.

At first, people brought natural elements inside, such as house»

Tips and ideas for revamping your outdoor space,

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Alison Michaels-Fandel and her husband, Derek Fandel, with their dog Francis, redid their Grant Park home’s backyard. An outdoor fireplace with an adjacent seating area in the couple’s backyard. MichaelsFandel says she prefers the fireplace feature to a traditional fire pit because the chimney of the fireplace channels smoke up and away from the seating area.

COURTESY OF SELDON INK The Culinary Science Center’s crown jewel of dining options is the 1856 – Culinary Residence, where chefs and students work side-by-side in the kitchen.

COURTESY OF SELDON INK Hey Day Market Food Hall and Gathering Place is located on the ground floor of the Culinary Science Center.