Wolf Josey’s redesign of the West Courtyard of the Rotunda, the historic Jefferson-era building at the University of Virginia’s UNESCO World Heritage recognized Academical Village, imagines an active and flexible space that caters to the needs of students, visitors, and public events.

The courtyard is defined by two rows of elevated planters that reference the site’s rich architectural history and frame a central stone paved gathering area. Each planter hosts a hop hornbeam tree and an understory of spring and fall flowering perennials and bulbs. The courtyard will be in bloom when students bid the university goodbye in the spring and when a new academic year begins in the fall.