Jefferson's Vision

Assignment 3

Jefferson’s vision for the university of Virginia was for it to be separated from the church. The University itself has many different parts to its plan, and was meant to be very symmetrical. On the east and west end of the church there are dormitories that were used for housing the men who attended the University. Each set of dorms had a shower room and outhouse were attendants could shower, and go to the restroom. Along with the showers and dorms there were also dinning halls. Going further towards the center of the church plan there are gardens found. A set of 5 gardens are found on either side of the church. The gardens were complete with border rows of fruit trees and rectilinear beds used for herbs. Jefferson wrote that …show more content…
He wanted to take this idea since the country had just broken away from the church as well. The library was based upon roman temples, with a center dome. Instead of temple for Gods he uses this design on his library to symbolize the temple of knowledge. The dome on the church was inspired by the pantheon, which goes along with the roman influence. The University is very symmetric, which Jefferson got this idea from the Chateau de Marly in France. They both have little pavilions found on either side as well as garden space. He wanted the library to be the center of the university just like the palace was the center of Chateau de Marly. The Italian architect, Palladio, influenced Jefferson with his book The Four Books. Jefferson took Palladio’s ideas of building a dome and used them to build the Pavilions III, V, and VII. One of the architects working on the university at the time, Latrobe, also contributed ideas which Jefferson used in building the university. He made the pavilions two stories tall since Latrobe sent in a design, and said it would be easier to tell the difference between the dorms and the classrooms. Latrobe also helped Inspiration of the lawn and the Pavilion V. The Pavilion V was ornamented in the Ionic Order of the theatre of Marcellus. This idea was taken from Chambray’s Parallele de l’archiecture antique. Lastly the …show more content…
He believed interactions between scholars and students enlivens the pursuit of knowledge. He also wanted the center of the university to be the library symbolizing that knowledge was the main focus of the institution. He wanted to create an atmosphere where learning and living were meshed. He had faculty as well as students live on campus, and the classrooms were near the dormitories allowing everything to intertwine together; furthermore, this allowed to order, to morals, and to uninterrupted studies. Jefferson felt as though a village was a safer, and heathier way of living. He wanted an open square of grass and trees, which he achieved by having ten gardens and an open lawn at the center of the plan. Lastly Jefferson wanted to take religion out of the university, and did so by not having a church found on the plan. At the time America had just broken away from Europe and the church, so Jefferson wanted to take the same idea to