New UVa grad center to serve as Jefferson Scholars’ base

By Brian McNeill

Published: March 25, 2008

Construction is nearly set to begin on a new 25,265-square-foot complex for elite University of Virginia graduate students.
The “Jefferson Fellows Center” of the Jefferson Scholars Foundation will offer its graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral fellows a place to congregate, perform research, exchange ideas and teach classes.
“We’ve got really exciting plans for a facility here,” said Jimmy Wright, president of the foundation, which offers scholarships to top-tier undergraduate and graduate UVa students. “It’ll be important for us in trying to improve the quality and quantity of fellows who come here.”
The project drew criticism over the past year from several local historic preservationists who denounced the foundation’s decision to demolish a 93-year-old house to make way for the new structure.
The original building, which was designed by an important early 20th century Charlottesville architect, originally served as a physician’s home and, eventually, as a UVa fraternity house. It was knocked down in late November, after the project’s architects found that the building’s years of neglect as a fraternity house had left it too damaged to be suitable for renovation.
Jefferson Scholars Foundation officials expect that construction will begin on the project, located at 124 Maury Ave., by early summer.
In addition to the graduate student center, the building will also house the foundation’s headquarters, currently located at UVa’s Alumni Hall.
Preliminary site plans have been filed and are moving toward approval, said Brian Haluska, a planner with Charlottesville’s Neighborhood Development Services.
Once a preliminary site plan is approved, the foundation must obtain a final site plan and then a building permit. Jefferson Scholars officials said they foresee nothing in the project’s design that would derail the approval process.
The building — which will consist of four connected buildings surrounding a courtyard — includes numerous environmentally friendly design elements, such as a geo-thermal heating and cooling system, sustainable building materials and lots of natural light. Rainwater will be collected and recycled for irrigation, a courtyard fountain and flushing toilets. The foundation intends to obtain gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Robert W. Moje, principal of VMDO Architects, said the design of the Jefferson Fellows Center aims to “cross-pollinate” the research of brilliant graduate students from different disciplines. It is based on a theory called the “Medici Effect,” he said, which holds that the spark of new and innovative ideas often lies at the intersection of two unrelated fields of expertise.
“This is a chance for the best and brightest scholars from one field to interact with the best and brightest scholars from another field,” Moje said.
The project’s price tag is expected to be between $18 million and $21 million, Wright said. It is mostly financed from bonds issued by the Albemarle County Industrial Development Authority, though no taxpayer dollars will go toward the project.
The foundation estimates that the project will generate an annual $2.7 million from spending by visiting scholars and guests. Unlike most buildings at UVa, it will be subject to Charlottesville property taxes.