University of Virginia Library

The Greening Of The Grounds

No sooner had Spring arrived — and Spring
Break come and gone — than we found
ourselves in the midst of another Founder's
Day. Recalling briefly Robert Rosen's
Counter Sesquicentennial celebration of two
years ago, we were impressed by how much
has changed since then in terms of awareness.
"Consciousness" is a comparable term which
enjoys widespread use today. Such thoughts
were idle fantasy, we concluded, considering
how much has been forgotten since Thomas
Jefferson, whose 228th birthday was the
cause of the celebration, became the father of
the University.

And it was fitting, as if a test of our new
awareness, that the recipient of the Thomas
Jefferson Memorial Foundation medal in
architecture should remind us of a few
forgotten facts which played so importantly
in the creation of the Grounds we occupy
today. Jose Luis Sert, former dean of the
Harvard Graduate School of Design, is noted
for his work in planned housing. As an
architect, he was eminently prepared to speak
on the subject of Architect Jefferson, who
Mr. Sert characterized with Buckminster
Fuller's term — a generalist.

"He knew," Mr. Sert remarked, "that the
'pursuit of happiness' that guided his efforts
required a harmonious and balanced
environment ... he was not a specialist." In
fact, the very idea of a specialist suggests the
efficiency which brought us such
monstrosities as the huge Howard Johnson's
neon sign which competes even with the
Rotunda for dominance of the skyline. We
think, too, of the mentality which would
propose a high-rise apartment complex
opposite Cabell Hall, its mindless facade
towering above the south end of the Lawn.

Mr. Sert spoke of Mr. Jefferson's work:
"His buildings, his plans in general, have a
sense of vitality. They have a poetic and
inventive quality; a youthfulness that
corresponds to the new country, the new
society that was just being born." Nor was his
work trapped by the sort of static
permanence suggested, incorrectly, by the
idea of classic values in an age of transience.
With exactly the delight in "putting up and
pulling down," which Mr. Jefferson classed as
one of his favorite amusements, he constantly
altered his designs and his finished work. He
was forever searching for ways in which to
improve his homes — here and in Paris — and
was seldom hesitant to rebuild, replace and
rethink old plans.

Providing a livable environment, then, was
Thomas Jefferson's plan. Mr. Sert reminded
us yesterday that "we have forgotten to
simply open our eyes and see what has
happened to the physical, man-made
environment" — that which the rate of
technological development has altered, often
without the planning based on human values
which is so vital. Gradual destruction and
increasing pollution remains largely
unchecked even today, although the
awareness of it grows as does concern for the
future. As Mr. Sert said, "We have been
trained and educated to do more reading and
less looking."

Yet the "pursuit of happiness," Mr. Sert
warned, is a lost effort in a decaying
environment. In the misplaced name of
"freedom," we have stood by while
promoters abused our surroundings and
tampered with our very lives in ways which
leave no one unaffected. We have been
content with architects and city planners who
have consented to such abuse. We have
forgotten — or put aside — the spirit of total
environment which Mr. Jefferson sought to
engender here. To fail to think of these
things, even amid the pleasant distractions of
Spring itself, seems certain to render all the
emerging greenness about as livable (and
believable) as a coat of spray paint.