University News

BOV approves design for new UVA Center for the Arts

A home for the arts is taking shape on Grounds.

The Board of Visitors Buildings and Grounds Committee on Thursday approved the schematic design for the proposed Center for the Arts in the University of Virginia’s development parcel on Ivy Road, sending it to the full board. The board on Friday likewise approved the design.

In June 2024, the Board of Visitors approved the site for the new center, which will be home to the Tessa and Richard Ader Performing Arts Center, the Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia, the Kluge-Ruhe Gallery and the College of Arts & Sciences’ Department of Music. The proposed arts center will wrap around the east end of the Emmet/Ivy Garage. The Virginia Guesthouse hotel wraps around the west end of the garage.

Illustration of the ground floor promenade from the designed model of the Center for the Arts.

The ground floor promenade of the Center for the Arts is designed to connect with the design elements and with the public-facing programs in the School of Data Science, the “living room” of the hotel and the lobby of the Karsh Institute of Democracy. (Illustration by Diamond Schmitt Architects, Selldorf Architects, VMDO)

“While an important site for an important program, this building will also be part of an ensemble of buildings that are intended to create a collective sense of community, offering shared resources, and building on our tradition of buildings and mixed uses in a harmonious relationship with the landscape,” said Alice Raucher, architect for the University, in her presentation to the committee.

The 220,000-square-foot Center for the Arts was envisioned by the design team of Diamond Schmitt/Selldorf/VMDO Architects working with UVA’s Office of the Architect. The center’s façade is designed to tie in with design elements from the nearby Karsh Institute of Democracy and the Virginia Guesthouse, with the brick mass of the center stepping down toward Emmet Street and the large window of the Performing Arts Center, displaying the activity and life of the Center, centered on the pond and the open landscape.

“All the buildings on the Emmet-Ivy Corridor have been designed with a transparent, welcoming ground floor to connect interior public spaces with the exterior pedestrian promenade to create a safe, active district,” Raucher said. “The Center for the Arts will have an internal promenade on the ground floor that builds on these design guidelines and which will connect with the public-facing program in the School of Data Science, and ‘living room’ of the hotel and the lobby of the Karsh Institute.”

Raucher presented the committee with several slides that showed the proposed arts center from different angles.

The advertisement banner says: 'Virginia Film Festival – October 22–26. Featuring over 100 films.'

The advertisement poster reads: 'Virginia Film Festival – Oct 22–26 | Over 100 Films.'

“I think the team has been successful in creating a building that is part of an ensemble that feels like UVA yet creates an exciting civic presence appropriate for an arts center with a broad local and statewide outreach,” she said.

At the same meeting, the committee approved the concept, site and design guidelines for the School of Data Science/Entrepreneurship Building. The Board of Visitors approved the building in June and added it to the major capital plan. The structure will be located on the adjacent parcel to the west of the School of Data Science.

“This adjacency will enable broad, collaborative research and entrepreneurial endeavors both with the School of Data Science and across Grounds,” Raucher said. “The proposed site provides an identity for the support of entrepreneurship and the aesthetic character of the building will be appropriate for its intended use in the Emmet-Ivy Corridor.”

In other business, the board:

Reviewed the schematic designs of the Research Data Center proposed for the Fontaine Research Park, to be constructed near the central energy plant currently under construction.
Approved renaming the former Federal Executive Institute on Emmet Street to Sycamore Hill, noting that the 14-acre parcel is adorned with mature sycamore trees.
Approved the installation of a commemorative plaque for University Hall, a center of athletics, graduations, speeches, concerts and events from 1965 to 2019, when it was demolished.
Approved the demolition of Cochran House on Poplar Glen Lane due to deterioration. The building will be replaced by a grass lawn.