Extending Jefferson’s vision

A conceptual sketch of the South Lawn Project shows how the new buildings will extend the geometry of the Lawn, ending with the vista Thomas Jefferson intended — the valley between the Southwest and the Ragged Mountains.

The project makes an L shape, with a commons building south of Jefferson Park Avenue at the intersection of two ranges of buildings. The commons is on an axis with the Rotunda and Old Cabell Hall; its rooftop garden will be a belvedere, looking out onto the mountain and valley view.

“We’re excited by the new plans and happy to see the great progress the architects are making,” said Arts & Sciences Dean Edward L. Ayers. “Those who have seen the new drawings are thrilled.”

With its combination of classrooms, faculty offices and student gathering places, the project will embody the concept of the Academical Village and the enduring lessons from Jefferson’s masterpiece. The South Lawn Project will provide a home for the new faculty that the College needs to accommodate mandated enrollment increases and to attain a desirable student:faculty ratio.

Architects for the project are Moore Ruble Yudell Architects & Planners. The Santa Monica, Calif., firm received the 2006 American Institute of Architects Architecture Firm Award, the highest such honor the AIA bestows. Their conceptual drawing represents three phases of the project.

PHASE I: The commons building, which features a large auditorium, a cafe and a welcoming glass-walled lobby for student gathering space, will be at the head of a courtyard created by two arrangements of buildings perpendicular to the axis of the Lawn. The history department will occupy the north building, and the departments of politics and religious studies will be to the south.

A broad, landscaped terrace will provide a safe pedestrian crossing over Jefferson Park Avenue. The terrace will be on axis with the Lawn and will end with the view to the south, which has been blocked since Old Cabell Hall was built in 1896.

The courtyard will incorporate a view of the home site of Catherine Foster, a free black woman who purchased the land in 1833, and her family. The site will become an interpretive landscape that will memorialize the African-American community of “Canada” and its residents, who played a central role in the history of the University and of Charlottesville.

Green space, a daylighted stream and gardens are also planned for the site, which is now a parking lot south of Jefferson Park Avenue.

The Board of Visitors has approved a budget of $105 million for this first phase; the board has committed $43.8 million. The total private funding required is $61.2 million; $41 million in gifts is required in order to break ground. Gifts to date total $29 million.

PHASE II: A building will be added south of Jefferson Park Avenue.

PHASE III: New Cabell Hall will be demolished, and new buildings for classrooms and offices will be built on the site, north of Jefferson Park Avenue. The curved stone wall at the back of Old Cabell will be visible once again.

The most ambitious construction undertaking on U.Va.’s Central Grounds in nearly a century, the South Lawn Project will strengthen the school’s academic core and reinforce the atmosphere of community that characterizes the U.Va. undergraduate experience. The project will accommodate 12,000 student visits per day and provide new homes for eight of the College’s 25 programs as well as one interdisciplinary program.

Read about recent gifts to the South Lawn Project.