Saunders-Monticello Trail
The two-mile Saunders-Monticello Trail, leisurely winding up Carter’s Mountain as it leads to Monticello, provides a panoramic link between Jefferson’s plantation home and the larger Charlottesville community. Designed by Charlottesville-based landscape architecture firm Rieley & Associates and officially opened in 2000, it runs parallel to Route 53.
“A lovely trail that allows the visitor to experience the field, forest, and, sometimes, fauna of Virginia.”—Allison Ewing
Smith Aquatic Center
Committed to sustainability, the architecture and design of the 27,290-square-foot Smith Aquatic & Fitness Center off Cherry Avenue is as economically responsible as it is striking. The efficient, modern exterior of concrete block and glass windows converges with an interior alive with bright facilities, colorful waterslides, and squealing children. And its design by Bargmann Hendrie + Archetype keeps the center faithful to innovation, functionality, and efficiency.
“I think this is a beautiful building both inside and outside. It is very challenging to create a large-scale public space with large amounts of natural light while at the same time burying half the building into a hillside. I like how you can look down into the pool area from the parking lot and then as you swim laps, windows are mounted at eye level. The simple but powerful two-story blue tile wall adds a fantastic backdrop to the entire space.”—Dan Zimmerman
Photo: Jack Looney
The Dell
Originally designed as a solution to stormwater management, The Dell at UVA provides a placid escape for students and locals. Located on Emmet Street across from the Mem Gym parking garage, it was designed in collaboration with local landscape architecture firm Nelson Byrd Woltz and geometrically adheres to Jefferson’s original idea of a structured, grid-like plan for UVA without forgoing any of the beauty of the natural, disordered environment. The 1,200 linear foot section of The Dell stream was piped in the 1950s and now flows into a retention pond, surrounded by a native botanical garden in the 11-acre New Dell valley, which continues to attract members of the Charlottesville community with its meditative walking paths and peaceful resting spots.
“Meadow Creek, the stream defining the Dell Valley, was diverted into underground culverts during the “landscape renewal” movement of the 1950s. While the valley echoed the vibrant chatter of basketball rivalries on the nearby courts, the courtside landscape was neglected and somewhat forlorn. The New Dell project, a hallmark design by the Charlottesville landscape architectural firm of Nelson Byrd Woltz in the late 1990s, created an 11-acre oasis by daylighting 1,200′ of the stream, artfully crafting a stormwater retention pond, and planting a successful wetland garden of native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. The asymmetric pond blends the structural geometry of the University’s traditional grid pattern with both Jefferson’s exuberant foray into winding lines and the intrinsic serpentine character of a riparian landscape. The sound of the pond’s cascades effectively tranquilize the urban setting, while the shapes and colors of shoreside plantings—bald cypress, tree and shrub willow, alder, cattail, maple—are boldly animated in the liquid mirror of the water. A crumbling brick arch, left over from the Italianate garden of Dr. William Lambeth, provides an entertaining, eyecatching folly. Ultimately, the New Dell is a progressive innovation in New Age water management.”—Peter Hatch