13.11.08

Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia





Thomas Jefferson had a solid grasp on many concepts that many of the architectural scholars of today are just now today pushing on people in 1819. Only now are these concepts being consistently taught that they should be integrated into all of our cityscapes. While Jefferson was conceiving his plans of the University of Virginia he was thinking about many different concepts, which he thought were essential in the “academical village”. Many of his ideas we are now incorporating into our new urbanism designs of the city. While in the last century or so the majority of our cityscape designs have a vehicle first mentality, Jefferson had already conceived the idea of having a green space in the center space of all of the surrounding buildings. This green space was created for the intent of giving the students a place to walk and mingle with each other. Jefferson had a pedestrian first mentality and presented this with this green space. The streets were kept off of the original conception plan. Thomas Jefferson had also conceived the idea of a mixed-use society. The university buildings were a space for work - for the professors who lectured, a place for study - for the students attending and a place of sleep for both the proffesors and the students. In each of the building, the living quarters were located upstairs, above the classrooms. Jefferson also had the land, which the university was built on excavated and reshaped. The land was shaped into a sort of staircase. Each “stair” had its own faculty located on that level. The staircase led up to the head of the university, which in Jefferson’s mind was the library. Most universities at the time would have a chapel at the head of the university as they were centered on religion. Jefferson had a different idea of what a university should be based on; he believed it should be based on enlightenment. The university originally offered classes in philosophy, arts, science foreign language, law and medicine.

University of Virginia

~Trevor

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