Officials consider history in UVa design

University of Virginia officials say they are trying to follow Thomas Jefferson’s architectural and academic precepts in the design and redevelopment of the university’s Grounds.

Architectural officials on Tuesday told an audience of students, staff and community residents that they have tried to respect Jefferson’s vision of building and education as the university has expanded from 200 to 20,000 students. That’s especially true of the $105 million South Lawn development, across Jefferson Park Avenue from the 57-year-old New Cabell Hall.

They made their statements at a community briefing in the Newcomb Hall ballroom arranged by the university’s community relations department.

The new campus will help house the university’s College of Arts & Sciences and connect to New Cabell via a wide pedestrian bridge over Jefferson Park Avenue.

Officials said they have tried to carry Jefferson’s design of the university’s central Grounds into the other campuses, from the law school to the new South Lawn. They noted Jefferson’s use of symmetry, sense of rhythm and willingness to mix up building styles as tough acts to follow.

“With Jefferson, there is always a design element, but there is also convenience,” said Richard Guy Wilson, a professor of architectural history. “Jefferson was willing to break the rules of architecture. He knew the rules and he broke them. He saw architecture as a way to teach. With Jefferson, there are so many elements in his design and that’s one of the problems we have.”

UVa has grown, expanded, developed and redeveloped since the first classes were held in 1825. Some of that development has created controversy, including plans to build a Gothic chapel in the center of the Lawn and a Tiberian Arch commemorating Confederate soldiers. Neither plan materialized, but another controversy surrounded construction of Cabell Hall at the end of the Lawn.

The building closed off Jefferson’s original open-ended design of the Lawn.

“There was a lot of controversy, but the sense of openness led to a sense of uncomfortableness for many,” Wilson said. “I once hated New Cabell Hall, but then I discovered that the reason for the building was to keep students close to the Lawn and the original Academical Village.”

Expansion from the central Grounds to U.S. 29 on the west, the U.S. 250 Bypass on the north and Fontaine Avenue on the south made it difficult for university officials to adhere to Jefferson’s precept of keeping a central academic village with students and staff near each other.

Connections have been kept with bus service, bridges and recurring design motifs such as palladium columns and brick edifices.

“Thomas Jefferson was the founder, yes; he was the principal architect, yes, but he was also a planner,” said David Neuman, university architect. “His definition of the reason for the University of Virginia was to sustain the democracy and the United States, this experiment he had worked toward all of his life.”

Neuman said planners have tried to incorporate Jefferson’s idea of sustaining education in new projects. He cited open spaces for public gatherings of students and educators as one example, and living and learning quarters that converge as another.

Neuman noted that UVa is using redevelopment zones for existing property to provide for future expansion without overbuilding.

Part of that plan is to build taller buildings on less ground, or buildings that go several stories underground to keep common areas green.

“We are preserving his values. Jefferson was showing us the values that best represented democracy in architecture,” he said.