So yesterday I got to ditch work and drive up the mountain to visit my man Thomas. I don’t know why I’ve been looking forward to the opening of the new Monticello Visitor Center—I mean really, could you get any nerdier?—but I have, and my visit yesterday justified the anticipation. It’s a building we can be proud of.
Well, several buildings, actually. They’re called "pavilions," since this is Jefferson’s place, but thankfully they find their own aesthetic realm instead of wanly copying the look of the Lawn. They’re arranged around a central courtyard and, because they sit on a steep slope, they form a kind of multi-storied complex with stairs, doorways and decks here and there.
I loved the fact that brick is used only for walkways, and the way the big windows reflect the sky, but that’s not why you read Green Scene, is it? This thing is going for LEED Gold. That makes it the latest prominent public building in our fair hometown to wave a green flag (see also: Transit Center). Among its qualifications are a geothermal heating/cooling system, enhanced indoor air quality, and advanced storm-water treatment. Stuff, in other words, that you can’t really see.
Courtyard with fountain: only partly made of brick!
But then there’s the vegetated roof on the building that houses the (absolutely enormous) gift shop, which—because of that slope I mentioned—is at eye level when you’re waiting for the bus to take you up to the house. Which amounts to a nice big ad for green roofs that half a million people a year will see. I love it.
Uber-visible green roof.
Didn’t spot any signs touting LEED-ness or green-ness, but the complex itself somehow communicates "sustainable". It looks LEED-y; that’s the only way I can say it.
Foreground: Bump representing Montalto on bronze relief map of estate. Background: actual Montalto.
Outdoor seating on the café deck.
While there’s still a long way to go on sustainability (can we lose the $3.95 made-in-Thailand gift shop goodies, yo?), TJ himself was nothing if not a work in progress. You know he would have been preoccupied with the issue of climate change had he lived in our time: He was interested in culture, science and politics, all of which are relevant to the crisis. I recommend a Visitor Center visit, even if you don’t buy a ticket to the big house. Anyone else been up there? What’d you think?