Guide to the North Carolina State University, Office of Finance and Business, Office of the University Architect Records, 1966-2007 and undated

Descriptive Summary

Creator: North Carolina State University. Office of the University Architect.
Title: North Carolina State University, Office of Finance and Business, Office of the University Architect Records, 1966-2007 and undated
Call Number: UA 003.026
Extent: 11.75 linear feet (3 archival storage boxes, 1 oversized flat box, 19 flat file folders)
Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Special Collections Research Center Reference Staff.

Information for Users

Restrictions to Access: This collection is open for research. Access requires at least 24 hours notice.
Acquisitions Information: Transferred from the North Carolina State University Office of Finance and Business
Preferred Citation: [Identification of Item], North Carolina State University, Office of Finance and Business, Office of the University Architect Records, UA 003.026, Special Collections Research Center, North Carolina State University Libraries, Raleigh, North Carolina.
Copyright Notice: The nature of the NCSU Libraries' Special Collections means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The NCSU Libraries claims only physical ownership of most Special Collections materials.

The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to U.S. Copyright law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.

Historical Note

Few if any of North Carolina State University's founders foresaw the growth that the University has experienced. Early design efforts focused on a much smaller campus than today's 2,000 acres and more than eight million square feet of built space, accommodating a community of over 30,000 people.

From the University's pastoral beginning along Pullen Road, enrollment and facilities grew slowly but steadily until the end of the First World War, after which they accelerated. Plans of the 1920s called for grouping buildings that housed linked activities, such as the agriculture and engineering groupings on the North Campus, classrooms around the Court of North Carolina, the "executive group" near Holladay Hall, athletics around Riddick Stadium, and student residence south of the railroad. These plans were effective for their purposes, but they were not intended to provide a framework for a campus that would accommodate 30,000 as of 2005. Much of the University's present design has evolved organically from earlier development, nurtured by numerous staff and faculty members with an interest in the University's physical environment. Many of the courtyards, open spaces, and walkways in the older sections of the campus appear to have been part of an original intention but in fact were nurtured and developed by people who came later.

During the Great Depression, the University lost several graduate programs, and its progress was in jeopardy. Planning for expansive growth was not a priority. After the Second World War, however, enrollment surged, many graduate programs were restored or initiated, and the University embarked on an optimistic course of growth that continues to the present. Some temporary buildings constructed after the war to support the resurgent student population remained in use until the 1980s.

North Carolina State's first postwar physical masterplan was created in 1958, the same year the University's first modern long-range strategic plan was written. The physical master plan brought some coherence to a burgeoning campus. While it was meant to help the University achieve other long-range strategic goals, it was never a part of the strategic planning process. Adherence to the masterplan was desirable but not mandatory.

The 1958 plan divided academic from student activity into the North and the South Campuses, respectively. It established a central pedestrian area (University Plaza or the "Brickyard"), suggested moving vehicular traffic to the campus's periphery and dispersed new construction into all areas of a 600-acre campus.

In 1960 the University established the Campus Planning Office, which updated the 1958 plan. It envisioned a compact, high rise, pedestrian-scaled campus based on a ten-minute walking radius--all essential services were to be within a ten-minute walk from a central location. The plan for the University's urban center was thus established.

When the Facilities Planning Division was established in 1963, it re-emphasized several points of the 1958 plan, including zoning of the academic campus around D. H. Hill Library and focusing student activities on a new South Campus student center and gymnasium.

"Campus Enrollment and Planning System," a 1968 in-house report, endorsed the compact campus center but also suggested some decentralization through dispersal of activities. This marked the emergence of the idea that the campus could be a group of neighborhoods. The University was growing into an academic town in parallel with Raleigh's growth into a mid-size city.

Not coincidentally, it was during this period that Edwin F. Harris took a lead role in campus planning. Harris's career at NCSU began in the 1950s as an undergraduate. Graduating in 1957, he worked for several years as a drafting instructor before being promoted to Campus Planning Consultant in 1966. Four years later, he ascended to the position of director of the Facilities Planning Division, a title that eventually evolved into University Architect. During Harris's time as NCSU's chief of design, the University constructed more than 60 buildings at a total cost of $333 million.

Harris's influence on NCSU's physical environment is palpable. Central to his design philosophy was the idea that "spaces between buildings are important." In accordance with this view, he tried to organize the main campus into series of "academic neighborhoods," focused around open spaces and courtyards. The hope was that these commons areas would foster communication and community. Harris's communal vision is most evident, though, on NCSU's Centennial Campus. There, various "clusters"--academic neighborhoods by another name--combine to form what he and others termed an "academical village."

Scope and Content Note

Blueprints, drawings, informal writings, and other material relating to projects and initiatives undertaken by the Office of the University Architect in the years 1966-1991.

When Edwin F. Harris became Campus Planning Consultant, he began generating the papers generated here. Although some files antedate Harris's term as "University Architect"--a designation that only came about in 1983--from 1970 on, he always held a position that was its functional equivalent.

The first 18 folders of the collections contain oversized items and are stored in flat files.

Additions made to the collection after initial processing in 2005-2006 contain more drawings, as well as clippings, photographs, correspondence, and plans dating to the early years of the twenty-first century.

Organization of the Collection

Blueprints and drawings are arranged by subject.

Online Catalog Terms

The following terms have been used to index the guide to the collection in the NCSU Libraries' online catalog.

Individuals

Harris, Edwin F.

Corporate Entities

North Carolina State University--Administration
North Carolina State University--Buildings
North Carolina State University--History
North Carolina State University. Centennial Campus
North Carolina State University. Office of the University Architect

Topics

Architecture--North Carolina
Campus planning--North Carolina--History
College administrators--North Carolina--History
College buildings--North Carolina
Universities and colleges-North Carolina--Planning

Detailed Description of the Collection

UA 003.026 Series 01 :Blueprints and Drawings, 1966-1991

10.5 linear feet, 18 flat files , 2 archival boxes , 1 oversize flat box

The the collection consists almost wholly of architectural blueprints and other drawings made by Edwin F. "Abie" Harris, Jr. Interspersed with these are occasional notes related to the drawings.

51 Centennial Campus Drawings, 1984-1990 (1 of 2) [Flat Folder 1]
52 Centennial Campus Drawings, 1984-1990 (2 of 2) [Flat Folder 2]
42 Riddick Stadium Drawings, 1968-1970 (1 of 2) [Flat Folder 3]
43 Riddick Stadium Drawings, 1968-1970 (2 of 2) [Flat Folder 4]

42 General Academic Building Drawings, 1972-1975 (1 of 3) With a few exceptions, these are not drawings of specific academic buildings, but rather they are a series working out how academic buildings in general can promote community and productive activity.	[Flat Folder 5]

42 General Academic Building Drawings, 1972-1975 (2 of 3) With a few exceptions, these are not drawings of specific academic buildings, but rather they are a series working out how academic buildings in general can promote community and productive activity.	[Flat Folder 6]

54 General Academic Building Drawings, 1972-1975 (3 of 3) With a few exceptions, these are not drawings of specific academic buildings, but rather they are a series of drawings working out how academic buildings in general can promote community and productive activity.	[Flat Folder 7]

21 Court Drawings, 1970-1980 [Flat Folder 8]
51 Poulton Plan Drawings, 1966-1970 (1 of 2)
Drawings relating to a capital improvements project aimed at expanding campus classrooms and academic space.
[Flat Folder 9]
51 Poulton Plan Drawings, 1966-1970 (2 of 2)
Drawings relating to a capital improvements project aimed at expanding campus classrooms and academic space.
[Flat Folder 10]
53 Campus Drawings, 1966-1979
Drawings depicting the whole campus or large segments of it.
[Flat Folder 11]
35 Campus Drawings, 1983-1992 and undated
Drawings depicting the whole campus or large segments of it.
[Flat Folder 12]

49 Conceptual Schemata, 1966-1973 Drawings made to represent some abstract architectural concept. Most of the drawings contained here stress some variation on the theme of how buildings and the spaces between them might be used to foster community and productive activity.	[Flat Folder 13]

37 Conceptual Schemata, 1974-1988 Drawings made to represent some abstract architechtural concept. Most of the drawings contained here stress some variation on the theme of how buildings and the spaces between them might be used to foster community and productive activity.	[Flat Folder 14]

44 Conceptual Schemata, undated Drawings made to represent some abstract architechtural concept. Most of the drawings contained here stress some variation on the theme of how buildings and the spaces between them might be used to foster community and productive activity.	[Flat Folder 15]

52 Site Studies, 1966-1991 (1 of 3) Drawings of single campus buildings or clusters of buildings. This folder contains drawings of a proposed art museum, a proposed new basketball coliseum, Bostian Hall, Broughton Hall, a chapel site study, and the Continuing Education Center (also called the Extended Education Center in some drawings).	[Flat Folder 16]

52 Site Studies, 1966-1991 (2 of 3) Drawings of single campus buildings or clusters of buildings. This folder contains drawings of Harris's "Deck/Dorm Study" (a proposed combined dorm and parking garage), a "Dining Hall Site Study," the Dorm Complex Snack Bar, a Harris Hall Addition, and D. H. Hill Library.	[Flat Folder 17]

43 Site Studies, 1966-1991 (3 of 3) Drawings of single campus buildings or clusters of buildings. This folder contains drawings of the Japan Center, Mann Hall, the School of Design, the NCSU "Stadium Site" (Carter-Finley), Sullivan Drive, the Veterinary School, Williams Hall, as several unlabeled and unidentified sites.	[Flat Folder 18]

Academic Neighborhood Drawings, 1969 [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 1]
Planning Framework Drawings, 1976 [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 2]
Connotation Article Drawings, 1976 [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 3]
Concept Drawings, 1969 (1 of 2) [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 4]
Concept Drawings, 1969 (2 of 2) [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 5]
Centennial Campus Concept Drawings, 1985-1988 [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 6]
Centennial Campus Concept Drawings, 1989-1990 and undated [UA 003.026 Box 1 , Folder 7]

AIA Talk at Wilmington Drawings, 1991 Notes for a 1991 talk at a meeting for the American Institute of Architects. The talk concerned using the spaces between buildings to reinforce university campuses' sense of community.	[UA 003.026 Box 2 , Folder 1]

Design Guideline Drawings, 1991 [UA 003.026 Box 2 , Folder 2]
Oval at Centennial Campus Drawings, 1991 [UA 003.026 Box 2 , Folder 3]

MASGRID Drawings, 1968-1970 (1 of 2) Drawings related to a plan aimed at establishing smoother circulation on campus as well as encouraging unscheduled contacts and interactions between members of the university community.	[UA 003.026 Box 2 , Folder 4]

MASGRID Drawings, 1968-1970 (2 of 2) Drawings related to a plan aimed at establishing smoother circulation on campus as well as encouraging unscheduled contacts and interactions between members of the university community.	[UA 003.026 Box 2 , Folder 5]

Drawings, no date
11 drawings
Drawings of buildings and site plans for the main campus and Centennial Campus of North Carolina State University
[UA 003.026 Oversize Flat Box 3 ]

[Return to Descriptive Summary]

UA 003.026 Series 99 : Unprocessed Materials, 1973-2007

0.5 linear feet, 1 legal box

Contained in this series are materials accessioned after the collection was originally processed in 2005-2006.

North Carolina State University Landscape Plants Survey, 1980
Accession no. 2007-0116 [UA 003.026 Series 99 Legal Box 4, Folder 1]

Records, 1973-2005
Accession no. 2007-0141
Newspaper article, landscape drawings, photographs, and correspondence pertaining to the Court of North Carolina and the proposed Catalano Pavilion (1998-2005); 2002 NC State University Physical Master Plan map of Campus Paths; letter and blueprints related to the dowsing of Winston Hall (1973-1987); letters and memoranda pertaining to tree removal on campus (1993).

[UA 003.026 Series 99 Legal Box 4, Folder 2]

A Campus of Neighborhoods and Paths, NC State University Physical Master Plan, 2007
Accession no. 2008-0020 [UA 003.026 Series 99 Legal Box 4, Folder 3]
A Campus of Neighborhoods and Paths, NC State University Physical Master Plan, 2000
Accession no. 8636 [UA 003.026 Series 99 Box 4 , Folder 4]
Physical Master Plans, North Carolina State University, 1995 - 2001 [Flat Folder 19]