University of Virginia School of Architecture
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As part of his broader conceptualization of the University of Virginia, founder Thomas Jefferson envisioned the creation of the first college based program in architecture in the United States.
Jefferson intended to use the assets of the Academical Village to serve as the cornerstone and classroom of the program. Documentary evidence suggests that Jefferson expected to take up responsibilities as instructor for architecture, but his death in 1826 intervened before this vision could be realized.
[edit] History
It was not until 100 years after Jefferson's demise that an architectural school would be instituted. In 1919 a School of Fine Arts was established under the direction of Sidney Fiske Kimball, for whom the university's fine arts library is named. In 1954 the University dissolved the School of Fine Arts while merging the art faculty into the College of Arts and Sciences and creating a new School of Architecture. In the nearly nine decades since its founding, the school has grown from an initial enrollment of 11 students to some 350 undergraduate and 175 graduate students with 54 full time academic faculty members.
[edit] Courses
The School offers undergraduate studies in Architecture, Architectural History, and Urban and Environmental Planning, as well as graduate studies in Architecture, Architectural History, Landscape Architecture, and Urban and Environmental Planning. Additionally, the school participates with the College of Arts and Sciences in the Graduate (Ph.D.) program in the History of Art and Architecture.
[edit] Campus and facilities
The school is housed in Campbell Hall which features studio space, lecture halls, classrooms, a café, and the Arts & Architecture Store. A series of expansions are planned as part of a larger program of redevelopment at the university. These expansions will add some 13,000 square feet (1,200 m²) to accommodate the school's growth over the last two decades. They include the South Addition, which will provide office space along the south side of the building; the East Tower, with more review and exhibit space; and the Landscape Additions. The most notable planned landscape addition is the Passage, a new entryway to Campbell Hall. There will also be a terraced landscape addition along the new South Addition. A groundbreaking ceremony was held September 29, 2005.
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