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PENLAND SCHOOL OF CRAFTS • POST OFFICE BOX 37 • PENLAND • NORTH CAROLINA • 28765-0037 • SPRING 1999
The Master Plan
Penland has grown Jrom its inception, guided by an illusion ojcrajt,
into a beautiful campus that is integral with the program. To d^ine the
process that charted the evolution oJ the campus is difficult, but the
fundamentals are as follows: a clear sense of programs as a dfining
priority, a respect for place, a genuine involvement of the people who
use and take care of the place, and a continuing evaluation and repair
of the campus. From the preliminary draft of the Penland
Campus Master Plan.
One of the important charges given to Director Jean
McLaughlin by the Penland Board ofTrustees was the creation
of a comprehensive physical plan for the school. Under the
gentle guidance of Edwin “Abie” Harris, the recently retired
campus architect for N.C. State, this plan is becoming a reality.
Abie’s process has had more to do with asking questions
than providing quick answers: during numerous visits to
Penland over the past six months, he has interviewed staff and
community members about the school’s needs, made sketches,
met with Jean and Facilities Director Feet Williams, consulted
with other professionals, and engaged in a patient and thor
ough process of observation.
Direct feedback was solicited from board members and
instructor, along with nearby and distant members of the
Penland community. They were asked what they liked most
and least about the campus, what they felt were the school’s
pressing infrastructure needs, and what qualities they thought
were essential to Penland’s character. The responses were
detailed and passionate, and reflected the strong connection
that so many people feel with this place.
The end product will be a comprehensive documentation
of the campus. The topics range from general design principles
that will guide future building and landscaping decisions to
detailed description, analysis, and recommendations including
new building needs and location, lighting, water management,
walks, plantings, roads, parking, utilities, accessibility, and
safety. This information will be supported by charts, diagrams,
analytical sketches and the first accurate topographic map of
the Penland property, which will precisely locate aspects of the
campus including structures, walkways, utilities, and plantings.
The initial draft of the plan is a document of great rever
ence. It attempts first and foremost to describe and define the
physical, aesthetic, and social characteristics which reveal the
essence of Penland’s character. When it is complete, the plan
will be an essential guide for the staff, the community, archi
tects, and other professionals as they make decisions about the
Penland environment for years to come.
The Master Planner
A Conversation with Abie Harris
In addition to Penland’s master plan, Abie Harris continues to
do some work for N.C. State. He’s also designing a new com
munity college in Wake County, and he’s consulting with Wake
Forest University, Guilford College, and the Arthur Morgan
School. This is an excerpt from a conversation about his process
and his impressions of Penland. —Robin Dreyer
What has been your strongest overall reaction to Penland?
On a personal level, it is that each
time I come here I discover something
I didn’t know before and that gives
me a strong sense of humility about
master planning. There’s so much here
and I feel a strong imperative for
preservation, of not affecting what’s
here. I guess the words I’ve used in
some of the drafts are preservation
and enhancement, and any develop
ment should meet those goals.
So a big part of what you are trying to
do is create definitions of what already
constitutes Penland so that planning can
take place within that framework.
Right. Yesterday we were talking
about the location of the maintenance
facility and it pleased me that
[Trustee] Jon Ellenbogen was refer
ring to one of the diagrams I made ^bie Hams, the recently retired campus architect
defining the core campus and showing State University, is coordinating the
° * ° development oJ Penland s master plan.
walking times. The feedback I got was
that while this is routine stuff for me, it
gave him a conceptual framework so he could start to think
about Penland in those terms. 1 think that one thing the master
plan will do is analyze the campus in terms that might give peo
ple a new way of looking at it.
For me the bottom line is process and 1 really want to help
define a process. 1 think what’s going on with the new iron stu
dio is a wonderful thing. There
are professionals involved, there
are multiple points of feedback,
nobody is unilaterally doing
things. Everything is going
through a lot of filters and criti
cal eyes. This takes more time,
but I think as more eyes are
brought to it and there is an
increased emphasis on the
process, that will really make a
difference. The master plan will provide the framework but I
think it’s the process that’s going to make it happen.
/ imagine that some people may be nervous that a “campus plan”
means growth but what Tve seen is not so much about growth but about
making thingsfunction better.
Yes, I agree. I think the nervousness that I’ve observed stems
from the idea of someone who’s not from here—who’s not
grounded in this place—coming in. I would be nervous over that,
too. I think the other reason to be nervous is
the concern about over-institutionalization. If I
were a long-term resident, I would probably
be nervous that someone with my kind of
experience would bring in a set of rules, rather
than having recommendations spring out of the
uniqueness of this place.
Another thing that’s impressed me is the
amount of feedback that’s been involved, and I was
interested that some of the same things are cited as
positives and negatives. How do you react to this.?
Parking is a good example of that. Some
people complained about not enough parking
almost as if they were going to a shopping
center, and then there were those who felt
that there are too many cars around. I think
that the differences really speak to the char
acter of the place. However, I feel that the
most immediate thing we need to address is
the condition of the buildings, and there
seems to be general agreement about that.
/ was also interested that although your ques
tionnaire HUi about a physical plan, in most cases
the answers included social factors; people couldn’t separate out the
purely physical aspects of the school. >
I think that’s really neat because the facility is here to do
things that are meaningful to people. It needs to function—the
ventilation needs to work, the grinders need to grind, and the
saws need to cut, but in addition to that, the things that people
take away from here include the things that happen in between
what’s supposed to happen. Looking at the spaces and the time
in between is critical to a lot of environments, certainly here.
That interaction is a fundamental part of the program. The
campus is just chock-full of places where people can interact
much more spontaneously than what’s scheduled, and I think
that’s part of the essential character of Penland.
Note: As we were going to press, we received word that the
A.J. Fletcher Foundation has made a $50,000, two-year grant to
Penland to support the master plan.
Drawings by Abie Harris.