The Rotunda interior is scheduled to open by the fall semester and is set to feature new study and learning spaces.
In addition to renovations including a new roof, a new underground mechanical room and new marble capitals, Senior Historic Preservation Planner Brian Hogg said there will be changes inside of the Rotunda.
“There will be a few physical changes, perhaps most notably the addition of a [staircase] from the Dome Room floor to the first gallery, making that space available for use for the first time since it was recreated in the 1970s,” Hogg said in an email statement.
Hogg said other changes will include new study areas.
“From a programming perspective, what had been the President’s Reception Room — the Upper West Oval Room — will now become a student-oriented study area with upholstered furniture and tables and chairs for work,” Hogg said. “The first gallery will have similar furnishings, and the Dome Room will have more tables and chairs for study use.”
Rotunda renovations will also include 21st century updates to the building.
Hogg said there will be more power outlets and cell phone signal boosters, as well as a self-service elevator. The previous elevator in the Rotunda required an attendant.
Rooms throughout the Rotunda will be used for classrooms, COLAs, seminars, dissertation defenses and CIO meetings. The Upper East Oval Room will remain the Board of Visitors Meeting Room and the Dome Room will be available for study, dinners and receptions, lectures and other appropriate events, Hogg said.
First-year Engineering student Felix Park said he is looking forward to setting foot inside the Rotunda for the first time and using the new spaces.
“I’ve visited U.Va. a few times before the renovations, but I’ve never had the chance to explore the inside of the Rotunda,” Park said. “I’m very excited to see the history [University founder Thomas] Jefferson left for us and I hope I have some classes in there.”
Third-year College student Anjali Prahash said she took a COLA in the Rotunda her first year and enjoyed studying in the dome room before the Rotunda closed for construction. She said she hopes other students will use and explore the space.
“I’m really excited to see the newly renovated and restored space, simply in that I’ll be able to revisit those memories from first year,” Prahash said. “And I’m hopeful for the administration’s promise to increase the use of the space, especially for future classes to share the same experience I had as a first-year.”
Prahash said she predicts the Rotunda will be a source of excitement in the fall.
“Fall 2016 will definitely be an exciting time for all classes, with my Class of 2017 to be the last still on Grounds to remember the old Rotunda, and the incoming Class of 2020 to experience it for the first time,” she said.
The University hopes students will take advantage of the new spaces, Hogg said.
“We hope that we are creating comfortable, inviting spaces where student will want to study, have meetings and have events,” he said.
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