University of Virginia
Gibbons House
Building Facts
- 75,000 GSF
- 200 beds
The Alderman Road project creates three new freshman residence halls to replace the outdated 1960s dormitories directly across from Scott Stadium. The first of these buildings, the sustainably designed Gibbons House, offers modern amenities, sustainable features, and helps to foster a strong sense of community and place. Designed exclusively for first-year students, it includes 200 beds, double-hall baths, common rooms on each floor, and group study lounges, as well as an office wing to support UVA’s Housing & Residence Life program. The project connects the new residence hall to Observatory Hill Dining Hall and five existing residence halls, as well as to future residence halls south along Alderman Road.
The design team analyzed the existing conditions of streetscape, topography, landscape, and campus circulation (both service and pedestrian) and tested the impact of different building footprints and heights along Alderman Road relative to the campus planning guidelines developed for the West Grounds. The design team partnered closely with the client to investigate four primary schemes, each including three or four new residence halls, with regard to scale, relation to the street, character of exterior spaces created, and effectiveness of connecting currently separate residence halls. The chosen scheme sets the planning precedents for the next two or three residence hall projects.
