October 29, 2024

“Typical college master plans are linear,” explained Andrew Schlatter, former Vice President for Facilities Management and Planning. “They depend on completing projects in order. So, as soon as circumstances change to make one project irrelevant, the whole rest of the plan is broken and needs to be reworked.” 

When Bennington needed to refresh its architectural, facilities, and landscape plan, leaders and partners—including Reed Hilderbrand, its landscape architecture partner for the last 20 years, and WXY Architecture + Urban Design of New York City—thought about how it could be done differently. What if we drew upon Bennington’s own pedagogical method, its rich history, and its culture? The outcome is a remarkable report that is both flexible and capable of serving as a decision-making tool for many years to come. It’s called the Adaptive Framework. 

The idea resonated with Donald Sherefkin, recently retired Bennington College architecture faculty member, who also served as a member of the framework’s workgroup. “The College’s founding documents indicate that there should be ‘no grand buildings.’ Instead, throughout the whole history of the College, they adapted,” he said. Pointing to the Barn as an example and smiling at the audacity of the College’s founders, he said, “they took an existing building [designed] for animals and turned it into the administrative center of the College.” 

The Adaptive Framework acts as a companion to the 5-year strategic plan, which was also completed throughout 2023. “Bennington’s College campus is known as one of the most beautiful college campuses in the country,” said President Laura Walker. “This innovative and creative planning framework is a reflection of our willingness to do things differently and our commitment to using College resources in the most meaningful ways.” 

GROWING KNOWLEDGE 

The team from WXY—including Claire Weisz, the company’s Principal in Charge, and Associate Principal Jacob Dugopolski—was inspired by Bennington’s unique pedagogy, particularly how every Bennington student writes their own academic plan informed by growing knowledge, a community of advisors and collaborators, and a multidisciplinary approach. They worked to incorporate these same ideas to create a framework for Bennington. 

They began by collecting every piece of Bennington College data they could find. Schlatter provided housing-use information, classroom-use data, and the College’s substantial catalog of sustainability data. Reed Hilderbrand provided information from their long partnership with the College. “Someone had done a study of the curriculum, so we used that,” said Weisz. “There was the facilities master plan, so we incorporated information from that.” 

The team collected information about how many students were studying in each discipline, often more than one; the areas used for those disciplines; and how students moved around campus. They looked at how the campus community accesses the nearby communities off campus. They wanted to learn everything they could about the campus, including all of the many ways it was used and when, even down to the differences in how students use the campus in their first year compared to their senior year. “It’s a unique place,” said Dugopolski. “There were a lot of incredible attributes that we wanted to enhance. It needed a detailed and comprehensive look at what is possible.” 

The data-driven approach was a way to consider the current strengths and needs of the campus. From a sustainability point of view, said Adrian Niall, Principal from Reed Hilderbrand, it’s always best to start with what one has. “The big principle is ‘are we making the most out of our building?’ Before we think about new buildings, are we getting the most out of our landscape? Are there things that we could do differently? That would make a building function better? How could even older buildings meet contemporary needs? What would allow the landscape to function better and be a more valuable resource for learning for recreation, wellness, the ecology, and the environment?” 

THE COMMUNITY 

With an understanding of Bennington’s growing emphasis on shared governance, Schlatter and the teams from WXY and Reed Hilderbrand spent a lot of time thinking about how to make the framework design process inclusive. Schlatter convened focus groups and later identified members of a steering committee representing all of Bennington’s constituents, including students, faculty, staff, and the Board of Trustees. They met regularly throughout 2023 to determine the needs and priorities and how they might be addressed. 

“Andy worked a lot to build a group that was open and that could represent different people,” said Lorena Fernandez Camba ’25 who studies Architecture at Bennington and who both worked on the project as a student worker and served on the steering committee. “We had many conversations about how to build or make transitions. [We came up with] creative ways that prioritize the creation of community and comfort. That’s something that’s unusual to see in any institution.” 

“I was impressed by the intensity of the engagement,” said Niall of Reed Hilderbrand. “There was a huge commitment by the working group to be part of each of these meetings. Some of the subjects may not have been their focus, but everyone participated. Everyone was able to share, and I think it made it a much stronger and grounded plan.” 

MULTIDISCIPLINARY 

The 156-page report looks more like one that would have been produced for a municipality or a neighborhood than for a college. In fact, the methods used to create it more closely reflect those used in urban planning than those typically used by colleges and universities. 

It begins with a comprehensive assessment of the existing campus and how it is used. It goes on to address organizational priorities, including movement, living, landscape, sustainability, learning, and recreation, complete with strengths and weaknesses gathered from students, faculty, staff, and others. It ends with a menu of recommendations, both large-scale and small, including everything from short-term solutions to those that encompass the long-term vision. 

“Rather than a singular linear path, the new campus framework acknowledges that multiple futures are possible and creates a flexible planning tool that can adapt and change in response to changing circumstances,” said Schlatter. “The document provides a look at the possibilities and their relationships to each other without locking us into any one set of decisions.” 

One project would reroute vehicle traffic around the perimeter of the campus and leave the main academic thoroughfare more accessible to pedestrians. Another proposed idea would create a stronger sense of arrival with the creation of a welcome center between the Visual and Performing Arts Center (VAPA) and Cricket Hill. The northern end of campus is noted as a desirable location for academic buildings and housing. The report included projects that would help students and others connect with the communities around campus. Projects will be chosen based on the priorities identified in the framework, the strategic plan, and the availability of funds. 

“I’ve been here through various master plans,” said Sherefkin. “Bennington’s Adaptive Framework is so completely unique. It’s both finer grained and more comprehensive than most processes. It didn’t look just at structures; it looked at infrastructure, circulation, ecology, sustainability…I have never seen a process like this before.” 

What stood out most to Camba was the consideration that the process paid to the needs of all of the diverse groups who use the campus. “This project was really complicated to make,” said Camba. “But the way we did it felt caring. I hope everyone felt cared for.” 

The care Camba noted continues to the very last pages of the report, where WXY included a step-by-step guide to considering and implementing projects in a community-focused way first developed in the United Kingdom, said Weisz. “Especially in smaller towns and villages in the UK, they have a more developed way of doing shared planning. The things that work in other environments can be applied in university and college settings and allow a greater sense of shared purpose and dialog,” said Weisz. 

Schlatter hopes that the Adaptive Framework will be used to guide change at the College for many years to come and herald decades of positive development. “Just as students’ plans relate to tremendous personal growth and improvement, we hope that the Adaptive Framework will move us toward the development of a place that matches our values and improves our connection.”