There’s No Place Like Home, Part II

NBSS has called Boston’s North End neighborhood its home since its founding in 1881, but the School has only been in its current 64,000 sf facility since 2013. Now, a decade in, some of our community members reflect on what makes the award-winning space key to a remarkable education. 

This is second of two posts on the 10th anniversary of NBSS at 150 North Street. View the first post here.

More ways to build community

The first time Provost Claire Fruitman CF ’96 visited the current NBSS building, more than a decade ago, it was a raw space filled with old printing equipment and government offices. She felt a knot form in her stomach.

“It was huge, and I knew we could do so much with it. But at the same time, there was a lot of sentimentality and nostalgia about the old buildings.”

For Claire, a 1996 Cabinet & Furniture Making graduate and self-described “early convert” to NBSS, the old building on North Bennet Street (near the iconic Old North Church) held strong memories and a sense of real belonging.

She quietly wondered, “Should we really move?”

A decade later, she knows the school made the right decision to adopt a growth mindset: “The renovated building itself is amazing. You walk in, and your day is filled with possibilities. There’s so much we can do here.”

That begins with the flexible spaces offered in the Windgate Gallery, conference rooms, Store, and lobby. “We can eat lunch, hold a lecture, or host a book signing here in ways we couldn’t in our old building.”

Looking toward the School’s future, Claire envisions opening the space even more to local audiences by offering additional career training and programming in the evenings. “There are so many different ways to build community here,” she said, walking up the sunlit stairs and gesturing to the bustling city just outside.

Facilities that mirror what you’ll find in the field

When Retail & Exhibit Manager Kristen Odle designs exhibitions at the School, she considers how seeing handmade works in person will impact visitors and NBSS community members alike. Many also tune into In the Making, the popular virtual event series Kristen has hosted for five seasons. In it, she interviews artists, tradespeople, curators, community leaders, chefs, scholars, and creatives about craft and trade.

Both In the Making and NBSS exhibitions are public-facing spaces for building community—one virtual and transcending borders, the other a physical, immersive experience.

Kristen explained, “The idea of running an exhibition is about allowing the community to see these works in person.” Before installing a show, she considers how visitors will approach the pieces “from every angle” and uses her creative energy to design plinths, shelves, or display cases that provide the best access and experience.

Six years into her role at NBSS, Kristen still feels a buzz when she walks through the school’s front doors. “This is a place where people are learning to do the thing they most love to do. You can feel it when you see people at their benches, truly enjoying their work.”

The exhibitions showcase well-crafted furniture, books, instruments, jewelry, and buildings—the results of a love for work and a life made by hand.

Getting the most out of the building

“My team has done our job if NBSS is a safe and comfortable place for people to work,” said Marc Dreyfus, Director of Facilities & Technology.

“I think about small details—whether the temperature is comfortable, the humidity levels are right, and if the doors are functioning properly so someone can easily come inside.”

Marc constantly observes how the facilities are utilized by students, faculty, staff, and the public: “We have 60,000 square feet, and the question is, are we getting as much out of this building as we can?”

He’s excited to see how that answer evolves over the next decade, enriching programs and meeting new needs by finding smart ways to maximize the existing space. With the rapid advancement of technology, some solutions will undoubtedly involve adopting new tools and systems.

One of Marc’s favorite parts of his job is giving visitors tours of NBSS. “Everybody comes in here, and they can’t believe what they’re seeing. It looks like so much fun that they start saying, maybe I should quit my job and come to NBSS instead.”

Even years after starting his own journey at NBSS, Marc still walks through the doors and thinks, “This place is magical.”

Room to collaborate

Last year, NBSS expanded one of the Community Education (CE) bench rooms to offer more space to students in the Three-Month Furniture Making Intensive. While it wasn’t a major construction project, it made a big difference in how Instructor Eli Cleveland CF ’09 was able to teach.

“Now everyone has their own really nice bench with more space to move around. We also now have our own fully outfitted machine room. It makes it much easier for me to walk around and see what everyone is doing,” Eli shared.

The new layout also makes it easier for students to ask questions. No one gets lost in the shuffle, and Eli can now stand in one place and make eye contact with the whole class at once.
This level of support is critical. Most of Eli’s students take the course to test the waters before enrolling in one of the School’s Career Training programs or deciding whether to pursue a new career path in the trades.

Eli understands how much the Intensive means to them because he was once in their shoes as an NBSS student.

Although he has fond memories of the old NBSS bench room, where generations of students carved initials and notes into the wood, Eli finds measurable advantages in the new space, which brings all of the School’s programs under one roof in the North End.

“Being able to pop over to other departments and learn from each other is big. I’m always talking to Carpentry and Preservation Carpentry instructors and students. Collaborating with faculty and students so easily has been amazing.”

This story is from our Summer 2024 issue of Benchmarks magazine. View more stories from the magazine, and past issues.