WG Clark Associates Architects, East Addition to the School of Architecture, 2008-09
Building Blocks
The different stages of the University’s expansion
How does one add to perfection?
Jefferson’s lauded Academical Village became functionally obsolete soon after it opened its doors to students in 1825. A growing population and new teaching methods forced the re-appropriation of buildings for different uses. Other buildings went up without reference to the Academical Village in style or location.
As its title suggests, “From Village to Grounds: Architecture after Jefferson at the University of Virginia,” this exhibit sponsored by the Harrison Institute and Small Special Collections Library covers all the departures from Thomas Jefferson’s architectural vision and faithful efforts to adapt to it.
Divided chronologically, the exhibit details Stanford White’s restoration of the Rotunda after the 1895 fire and his re-imagining of its interior. His firm, McKim, Mead & White, also was called upon to close off the Lawn, re-introducing classicism to the Grounds with a series of new academic buildings. Later, a handful of architects brought Colonial Revival architecture with the construction of the Bayly Museum, Memorial Gym and Lambeth Field.
After World War II, the University’s expansion became heavily dependent on the automobile: the hospital, law and graduate business schools moved to satellite campuses. Closer to the historic core, new dormitories and dining halls accommodated the burgeoning student body.
And tomorrow’s University? The new $105 million South Lawn Project brings attention back to the historic Central Grounds. Slated for completion by the end of 2010, it will extend the axis of the original Lawn across Jefferson Park Avenue, featuring two parallel wings of academic buildings set along a courtyard. Historic preservation and new construction continue to repurpose the University’s 19th-century building stock, finding new ways to build on a masterpiece.
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