Library, arena lead building boom
A Special Collections library and a new multi-purpose arena are two of the crown jewels in U.Va.’s growing family of buildings.
Posted 06/12/03
New library construction.
Photo by Jack Mellott.
On McCormick Road opposite the West Range, the Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture, and the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library is more than half-way done. The $26 million, 72,700-square-foot building adjoins Alderman and Clemons libraries. Two underground levels will extend nearly all the way between McCormick and a new two-story entrance building on the site of Peabody Hall, which was demolished.
The new facility will provide a home for the University’s world-renowned collection of rare books, manuscripts and the University archives, as well as a central resource for collaborative programs.
Designed by Hartman-Cox Architects of Washington, D.C., the building is set for completion in March 2004.
A $130 million arena and special events center is going up on Massie Road north of University Hall. With 15,000 seats, the facility will provide more seats for basketball, and unlike the building it replaces, it will be air-conditioned to provide a more comfortable venue for warm-weather events. Its interior design is easily adaptable for concerts, cultural events, convocations and other community gatherings.
VMDO Architects of Charlottesville is working with Ellerbe Becket of Kansas City, Mo., on the design. The building is scheduled to be finished in late summer 2006.
But those aren’t the only projects under way. The Observatory Hill Dining Hall is being replaced, a materials science engineering and nanotechnology building is going up near the Chemistry Building, a pedestrian and bicycle bridge is spanning Emmet Street as part of the new Groundswalk system, the Ivy Road parking garage work continues and the Aquatic and Fitness Center is being expanded.
Renovations to Cocke, Rouss and Fayerweather halls are on the drawing board as are new buildings for Studio Art, the McIntire School of Commerce, a performing arts center and the College’s South Lawn Project that will bridge Jefferson Park Avenue behind Old Cabell Hall.