University of Virginia Bolsters Business Education with Flexible, Innovative Expansion Project

A $139 million project to expand the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia (UVA) will provide cutting-edge business education well into the future by offering students the best technological resources, on-site and remote learning environments, and a variety of spaces to collaborate and socialize. 

The construction of the 80,000-sf Shumway Hall and the renovation of the historic Cobb Hall, a combined project slated for completion in March 2025, will grow McIntire beyond the 156,000-sf Rouss & Robertson halls it has called home since 2008. The hub of buildings addresses a space deficit and creates a growing commerce complex, providing a link between the university, its students, and nearby business districts.

The planning study began in 2015, and the expansion design occurred largely amid the COVID pandemic, UVA leadership changes, and rising construction costs. Despite these less-than-ideal conditions, UVA leadership never wavered from its overarching goal to meet McIntire’s needs for future programs, pedagogy, and innovation. The primary question was whether to achieve the expansion with a new building or the renovation of an existing facility; the answer was a combination of both. 

“Historically, McIntire had a lot of spaces that were assigned to one particular activity and one particular purpose,” says Robert Hoover, former senior associate dean for administration and chief financial officer for UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce, who now serves as vice president and CFO at Radford University. “A major goal of this project was to expand and give the school the flexibility to move forward with the vision for where McIntire would be in five to 10 years and beyond.”

The vision included ensuring the new spaces are collaborative, flexible, and involve the community. Faculty want better offices and larger classrooms, while students want more shared spaces. UVA leadership considered both faculty and student needs, and outlined the following spaces to include:

• Expanded, modular classrooms with greater flexibility and enhanced technology
• New labs for innovation, behavioral research, emerging technologies, multimedia production, data analytics, and visualization
• More and better-quality study spaces, including lounges, group study rooms, and reading rooms
• Event spaces for university gatherings and functions for business and community partners
• Flexible space to accommodate growth in faculty and staff with additional work areas to enable collaboration

Selecting the Best Site

The property adjacent to Rouss & Robertson halls was identified as the most logical choice for a new building to extend the School of Commerce, but Cobb Hall had been located on that spot since 1917, and there was no interest in tearing it down. Discussions among the architects, UVA leadership, and the lead donor resulted in a creative solution: The addition that had been attached to Cobb Hall in 1930 was demolished in 2022, leaving intact the original portion of the building and providing space to construct Shumway directly behind Cobb.

While Shumway, Cobb, and Rouss & Robertson halls are separate buildings with a shared exterior courtyard, they are connected underground. 

“The project included the closure of a small road and cul-de-sac that led to the east side of Robertson Hall,” explains Bryan Lewis, chief information officer, assistant dean for operations, and lecturer in information technology and innovation for McIntire. “With this closure, there was no longer any vehicular service access to the existing facility. The construction of an underground service tunnel was required to ensure a connection point and a centralized loading dock.”

Flexible and Functional Components 

Constructing a new building and demolishing/renovating part of a historic building to transform McIntire into a complex to serve the university’s future needs required an emphasis on innovation, flexibility, and functionality. Designing for a variety of learning environments—including on-site, remote, and hybrid—was important, since the pandemic changed the educational environment.

“We had no idea if people were going to come back to regular offices, and if classroom spaces were going to look like they did before the pandemic, so we hedged our bets on this project,” says Lewis. “We had seen a presentation about modular wall coverings and modular wall systems, and much of our project is designed around these flexible architectural partitions.”

Reconfiguring partitions is an easy and inexpensive alternative to renovations if UVA needs to divide a large space into sections for different uses, change an office to a conference room, incorporate new technologies, or change how any existing space is used in the future. The spaces are designed so they can be used for certain purposes during the day and for other events at night, helping UVA maximize its return on investment. Incorporating both day and night functions into the design requires coordination with security regarding access control and space reservations.

McIntire invested in data collection and synthesis to maximize the usage of its square footage by reviewing its classroom scheduling system, access control system, lab stations, and real-time occupancy to create a complete picture of how often each space is utilized. The results determined which spaces require the most square footage. 

Reacting to the changes in pedagogy caused, in part, by the pandemic means offering classrooms where students can more easily interact with each other and the instructor. In any given class, there may be remote students or speakers. The McIntire expansion project transitioned from the traditional tiered classrooms to cluster classrooms that are designed on one level to enable students to face either the instructor or the students behind them to work in small groups. 

The new classroom design is an example of planning space around technology rather than adding technology to spaces. 

“Sightlines and immersive experiences are vital to setting a level playing field for students and instructors who may be remote,” says Lewis. “One example is the placement of cameras, which in the new classrooms are centered in the rooms to allow an instructor to view any student. In past iterations, cameras were set to the outside of chalkboards.”

The same concept applies to study spaces, which are designed around technology to ensure that sightlines, technological equipment, and backgrounds do not distract students who are working on campus or remotely. Audio-visual specialists were brought in early during the planning to assess UVA’s needs based on the McIntire project and the needs of faculty, students, and staff. 

Program planning is essential to help an institution outline its goals for a particular project, determine what steps must be taken to achieve those goals, and envision how those goals align with the university’s overarching business model. In UVA’s case, the planning played an important role in anticipating challenges, developing contingency plans, and realizing the importance of designing for function first, instead of designing a building and then hoping it conforms to the users’ needs.  

Shumway Design Features

UVA leaders visited more than 20 business schools to determine best practices for creating effective, flexible spaces to sustain evolving educational models. The main takeaway was the need to create guiding principles for the design, so UVA set three goals: for the buildings to be inclusive and inviting; functional and flexible; and student-centric.

The complex features an array of inviting outdoor gathering spaces with an open courtyard, expanded walkways, green spaces, and meeting areas. The centerpiece of Shumway is the two-story atrium with natural lighting and a large staircase, which will provide room for interaction and serve as a community lounge by day and space at night for large gatherings, such as receptions, alumni events, and dinners. 

“Not only is the atrium the living room of the school and the beating heart of McIntire, but we can dual use it for our main presentation space,” says Lewis. “We looked at adding a 500- to 600-seat auditorium, but it didn’t fit, and we have enough large auditoriums on campus, so we right-sized the atrium to use for major events.”

The atrium also serves as the lobby and main path of movement for students, faculty, and staff, enhancing the opportunities for collaboration. The collaborative design is seen throughout the expansion project, with visible sightlines, balconies, glass walls, and multiple spaces for individual, small group, or large group gatherings across disciplines. 

A grand classroom, adjacent to the atrium, promotes student-centered learning with flexible seating, adjustable furniture, and a design that can be reconfigured for individual desks, small group work, large discussions, or other arrangements, with a partition to separate it into two classroom spaces if needed. Flooded with natural light from large arched windows, it can also be used as an event space for more than 200 people.

The atrium gallery on the third floor spans the areas between the east entrance to Shumway and the café. Bordered on one side by a glass façade overlooking the courtyard and event spaces, the gallery provides spectacular views into the atrium. 

Shumway, the hub of collaboration, is a modern, high-tech building with flexible classrooms, unique event spaces, innovation labs, a café, and versatile study and interaction areas. The first floor features the atrium, classrooms, student study rooms, a wellness space, loading dock, and catering facilities. The second floor, highlighted by a balcony overlooking the atrium, includes an innovation lab, product management lab, computer teaching labs, and technology support offices. The third floor houses the student success center, café, student commons lounge, and conference rooms. The upper level of the two-story student success center, connected by a central staircase, is located on the fourth floor with the executive conference rooms and more wellness spaces.

The café, also located on the third floor—a highly anticipated space for the entire McIntire community—will offer seating inside or in the adjacent commons lounge. 

“I’ve been at the university for over nine years and I’ve sent out hundreds of surveys, some mission-critical during the pandemic, but the highest response rate I’ve ever received is about what’s going to be on the café menu,” says Lewis. 

The Student Success Center will house all academic advising, career development, and student life operations, which are currently spread across four floors in Rouss & Robertson. 

“We are giving students one place to go for any service they need from academic and study-abroad advising to internships and career exploration and preparation,” says Lewis. “The student-centric design philosophy is used throughout the Cobb-Shumway project because we took every opportunity, every hallway, every overlook to provide space for students to work, meaning we give them comfortable seating and technological resources that extend from within the buildings to the surrounding outside areas.”

Exterior spaces include the Crescent Courtyard, a gathering area between Shumway and Cobb; and the plaza, a focal point for the entire complex. The courtyard will host casual meetings and school events, and provide supplemental space for major events held in the atrium. The plaza, a park-like, pedestrian-only area, will provide outdoor study space and locations for food trucks during events.

Cobb Hall Renovations 

The “head house” front section of Cobb Hall underwent significant interior renovation to include new classrooms, group study rooms, studios, and office spaces, but the front-entry corridor was preserved. The goal was to maintain as much of the historic character as possible, while upgrading it to a modern facility. 

Cobb features a double-height lounge, or solarium, that will offer cozy seating areas and natural light, paying homage to the original Cobb space which was used as a lecture hall for Medical School classes in the early 1900s. 

Two large classrooms at opposite ends of the first floor were re-established, a classroom on the top floor where the ceiling had been lowered was restored to its original height, and a previously covered skylight was exposed. The original skylight will have a glass laylight illuminated with lightbulbs below it, maintaining the appearance of the original skylight without the risk of roof leaks.

By Tracy Carbasho