Title: Center for Craft Renovation - National Craft Innovation Hub
Location of Proejct: Asheville, NC
Project Completion Date: 2019
Firm Name: Samsel Architects

Short Description: The Center for Craft headquarters is in a historic four-story brick structure that was built in 1912. We worked with Center for Craft to renovate the building, maintain its historic certification and highlight the beauty of its existing structural systems. Breathing new life into three of the building’s four stories, we sought to bring attention to new modern elements while retaining the layered history of the building’s cast-in-place concrete and steel construction. Balancing conservation with cost-effective solutions resulted in the juxtaposition of thoughtful new design elements to the old masonry shell.

Architect's Statement: Center for Craft is a national non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the field of craft through fostering of new ideas, funding craft scholarships, and backing the next generation of makers, curators, and critics. Center for Craft’s building at 67 Broadway Street in Asheville provided a historic, and often rugged, canvas for the new modern functions and spaces to be applied.


History:
67 Broadway Street was built in 1912 by J. B, Rumbaugh for his Enterprise Machine Company as a fireproof garage and machine shop. The portion of the building with the address 69 Broadway Street was originally a partial alley to the back of the building which provided access to a pulley operated wooden elevator for moving cars from floor to floor. 67 Broadway had a capacity for 100 cars and was constructed of reinforced concrete, long-span roof trusses, and perimeter walls of brick. The detailing of the building’s "basket-arch" façade was designed to include a distinctive brick stripe pattern to highlight the three-story wall of glass.

The building has been home to many companies over the years and was purchased by Center for Craft in 2013. In 2017, 67 Broadway was certified historic by the State Historic Preservation Office.


Design Program and Solution:
Center for Craft emphasized that it was important to have flexible spaces throughout the building to host a variety of events and accommodate future expansion of their organization’s mission. Designing a building for immediate needs and future flexibility is what will allow the building to evolve and support the organization for decades to come.

We began the design process by working with Center for Craft to determine their organizational needs as well as the goals for the building’s revenue producing spaces. The project included a robust proforma that required nearly all areas of the building to be rented out for small company meetings, large corporate events, community organizations, or even a wedding. These revenue producing spaces provide artful office and event space that did not previously exist in the market.  

We created a combination of open workspaces, private meeting areas, casual meeting areas, and quiet phone booths to meet the evolving needs of an effective modern office. The sense of time is evident in the building’s floors and walls while the new construction elements act as light and simple touches within the original masonry. The combination of old and new creates an inspiring space for creative entrepreneurs to work, meet, collaborate, and even display their maker-made objects.  

The new co-working and lounge spaces on the second floor incorporate a variety of open and closed offices and varying scales of meeting rooms. While the new space has the latest in modern technologies, it also celebrates maker-made furnishings and purposeful areas for collaboration and creative work.

Transparent walls divide the functions while still allowing visual connection, maximum daylighting, and views to the outdoors. A series of custom planters also help to reconnect occupants to nature. It was essential that the overall environment feel creative, flowing, and connected.

The large crescent window overlooking Broadway Street is a distinctive feature of the building’s facade and upper level. The light-filled 3rd floor space can be used for a variety of purposes. We incorporated several design features to improve the dark and echoing space including acoustic panels integrated into a new lighting system and window shades to control daylight in the spacious room.


Results:
The building now provides Center for Craft with 16,000 square feet of programmable space, incorporating art galleries, event spaces, private and open offices, a coffee bar, flexible lecture and meeting spaces, and more. Balancing architectural conservation with cost-effective solutions resulted in an understated design-aesthetic that provides a sturdy canvas on which craft innovation can thrive. The idea of promoting craft in an increasingly digital age is achieved through the interactions between the creative inhabitants of these spaces. The building has become both a destination and a resource to those who contribute to this craft movement.