Twenty-four professors from the Architecture School issued an open letter yesterday addressed to the Board of Visitors, the administration and the University community at large accusing the University of mimicking the Jeffersonian architectural style rather than constructing buildings in the spirit of the University's founder.
The professors claimed in the letter that by merely copying the architecture it serves to belittle the legacy of Jefferson's original "Academical Village."
"There is a growing and fundamental break between what we value and what we teach in the School of Architecture and how architectural themes are trivialized on Grounds," Architecture Prof. Judith Kinnard said. "Style is not the fundamental issue. What's more important is how buildings fit into a larger matrix of social, ecological and cultural conditions."
Some professors said they doubt the University's ability to live up to its United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site title.
"The question is why the world heritage site has failed to promote anything in architectural excellence in the 20th and now 21st century," Architecture Prof. Daniel Bluestone said. "The University of Virginia aspires to be the No. 1 public university. It builds new additions to Scott Stadium and the new basketball stadium, aspiring to be in the top 10 or 15 in basketball or football. Yet in terms of architecture, it rises no higher than the top 500."
The University Board of Visitors, the body in charge of architectural decisions on Grounds, is open to suggestions from the faculty, Board Rector Thomas F. Farrell said.
"I certainly respect the views of such an esteemed group of architects," Farrell said. "That's not to say we are going to accept their views, but we will listen to any group. We take the approval of the buildings very seriously."
Farrell said the members of the Architecture faculty have ignored the Board's previous approval of progressive architectural decisions.
"The Architecture School has come to the Board of Visitors with two expansions of the Architecture School within the last four years," he said. "Neither was a traditional Palladian style. The Board of Visitors approved both designs."
University Architect David J. Neuman said while he believes there is room for innovation in the University's architecture, there still needs to be reference to Jefferson's historical style.
"I think it is positive and a healthy thing to have that dialogue occur," Neuman said. "For the University campus as a whole, it has to be organic, which means it has to grow and change. But it still has to be obvious to the public that we have continuity in the entire Grounds."
According to Kinnard, the open letter is the first step in an ongoing attempt to initiate dialogue about the issue.
"Some of the faculty [members] have written essays on the themes that are outlined in the letter," she said. "We hope to put these documents, as well as student responses and comments, on a Web site in order to move the discussion forward."
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