After studying Thomas Jefferson’s original architectural and landscape design plans for the University of Virginia, a landscape design team created Vista Point — a large circular plaza consisting of two varieties of Burlington Stone

Designed by Thomas Jefferson in the early 1800s, the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA, is steeped in history. The school laid its first building cornerstone in 1817, and the Commonwealth of Virginia chartered the University on January 25, 1829. Over the years, a number of architectural achievements have been realized on campus. The most recent addition is the South Lawn project, which included the creation of Vista Point, a large circular plaza made of two varieties of English slate supplied by Burlington Natstone of Plano, TX.

“The University of Virginia was designed and laid out by Thomas Jefferson,” said Cheryl Barton, FASLA, FAAR, LEED AP, Principal of Office of Cheryl Barton of San Francisco, CA, who was the landscape architect for the project. “One of the key elements is the rotunda — it’s scaled after the Pantheon in Rome. It’s the centerpiece of the entire University.

“Vista Point is south of that rotunda,” Bar- Ton went on to say. “It is a very important spot on campus. It’s a pivotal place.”

REMAINING TRUE TO THE ORIGINAL DESIGN

Barton explained that keeping in the spirit of Jefferson’s original design was a very important part of the process. “Initially, we researched Thomas Jefferson’s Principles,” she said. “He viewed landscape and architecture the same. We studied his guidelines for creating a landscape. He had a landscape modular, which included a maze in front of a building. We took his idea of a circular maze being in the space.”

According to Barton, the design team worked very closely with the University in creating Vista Point. “The University was deeply involved with this,” she said. “They wanted a flexible space that could be used for celebrations. [Also], it was important to them that it be as green as possible. That led us on our search for Burlington [slate].”

But before the use of Burlington stone was approved, Barton had to convince the Board of Trustees that the English slate was the right choice for the project. “They wanted something from the U.S.,” she explained. “There is a local quarry that mined more of a serpentine, but the quarry had been shut down for over 100 years. We had to compare cost of opening the local quarry. We explained that Burlington is set up to do this complicated stonework — everything was radial. It was very challenging from a technical standpoint.”

While the issue of sustainability was important to the Board of Trustees, they realized that it would require a great deal of time, energy and expense to re-open the local quarry and extract the serpentine. As a result, they gave the green light to use Burlington stone.

“At that point, we went to England,” said Barton. “It was imperative to have Burlington. It retains its greenness. [Vista Point] needed to read as a green space.”

THE STONE SELECTION PROCESS

A combination of Broughton Moor flame textured and Elterwater spot textured varieties were chosen for the maze as well as surrounding benches. In total, Burlington Stone supplied approximately 3,840 square feet of slate.

“We were interested in a less lively stone,” explained Barton. “We went to the quarry a couple of times to select from a particular vein. While in the field, we could determine the coloration — you could see the distinct color and movement. It was really fascinating. Burlington was great. They literally took us to what we were requesting.”

Barton explained that because the pattern of the maze would provide movement, they were searching for a stone that would not have a lot of veining. “A lot of people use [stone] for all the veining,” she said. “We Wanted something a bit more quiet. There is enough going on around it. We were making a maze, which is [already] noisy.”

Burlington Stone spent several days working with the design team at its quarry and processing facility in England. “They were so gracious,” said Barton. “They really wanted to make this project work.”

During their time in England, the design team specified what imperfections in the stone were acceptable and which ones were not. “Burlington was very good about slabbing the stone, and having it for us to look at,” said Barton. “They set-up mockups, and they also put photographs on the outside of each package so we could see what imperfections were in each package so we could direct accordingly in the field.

“The maze is a system of concentric circles that are wedged,” she went on to Explain. “The installers had to understand what kind of imperfections there were. We wanted to distribute them evenly throughout the maze.”

Barton explained that in addition to the quarry visits, the stone was also evaluated through digital images. “Burlington was really up to speed,” she said. “The work of them technically achieving this was superb.”

THE STONEWORK

The Broughton Moor flame textured and Elterwater spot textured pieces of Burlington stone utilized for the maze all have a thickness of 1 ¼ inches. With the exception of the center piece, all of pieces were both radial and rake cut.

Contributing to the overall design of Vista Point are four benches that are positioned on the perimeter of the maze. These benches consist of a mix of flame textured and honed Broughton Moor with the textured finish also used for the seats and the honed finish for the sides. The capping pieces were supplied in seven roughly equal sections — each of which was approximately 2 feet, 9 ½ inches x 2 feet, 7/16 inch x 2 ½ inches. On average, the side pieces measured 2 feet, 9 3/8 inches x 1 foot, 1 ¼ inches x 1 ½ inches, and the end pieces were 2 feet x 1¼ inches x 3 ¾ inches.

“The space acts almost like a compass,” explained Barton. “The benches become a cardinal point.”

Additionally, there is a non-circular area of paving that consists of the same combination of stones and finishes as the maze. There were approximately 30 different piece sizes required for this space, according to Burlington Stone.

In the non-circular paving area, there Are two benches — one comprised of six pieces and one of three. In both cases, the average piece size for the seats was 3 feet, 11 34 inches x 2 feet x 2 feet, 2 ½ inches with a flamed textured finish. The ends were 2 feet x 1 foot, 1 ¼ inches x 3 3/4 inches, and the side panels measure 3 feet, 11 ¾ inches x 1 foot, 1 ¼ inches x 1 ½ inches — both with a honed finish.

All of the stone was dry laid prior to installation to insure proper blending, according to Manuel Seara of Lorton Stone, LLC of Springfield, VA, the installation company for the project. “The concentric layout of the pattern and alignment with the perimeter bench elements was the most challenging part of the installation,” he said, adding that the stone was installed on a latex modified mortar setting bed. The installation crew consisted of six workers, and it took approximately three weeks to complete the stone installation of Vista Point.

Planning first began for the entire South Lawn project in 2004, and it was completed in October of 2010. “The dedication was held in the courtyard,” said Barton. “It’s so interesting how much the stone changes color with the lighting. It’s blue/green in the morning, and then green in the afternoon, and gray/green in the evening.”