DUPONT HALL

Mitchell/Matthews conducted the preplanning and programming study for this multi-faceted 103,000 sf +/- academic building, slated to replace the existing circa-1960s duPont Hall at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. The site is in a central location terminating one of Washington & Lee's primary vistas on the east end of the main campus plaza.

The conceptual design provides 180 parking spaces, offices, meeting spaces, flexible multi-use rooms and an exterior that respects the scale, proportions, and character of adjacent University buildings. The Doric portico fronting a glass curtain wall gives new meaning to Leon Batista Alberti's argument that a colonnade is "nothing more or less than a wall with holes punched in it" for freedom of movement and light.