A historic $120 million gift from the Quantitative Foundation, a private family foundation of Jaffray and Merrill Woodriff, made the construction of this LEED Gold-certified building possible. The building’s design began in January 2020 with architectural teams of Hopkins Architects, VMDO, and the University’s Office of the Architect. Construction was led by Gilbane Building Company.
A guiding philosophy was to create a space that fosters collaboration and promotes sustainability. This vision was echoed by Phil Bourne, founding dean of the School of Data Science, who emphasized the importance of the building reflecting UVA’s culture of excellence, openness, transparency, interdisciplinarity, and community engagement.
The building features sustainable design elements such as solar panels, vents and windows in individual offices, active and passive shading systems to reduce artificial lighting needs. It also includes a wellness area, lactation space, all non-gendered restrooms making it a diverse and inclusive space for all occupants.
Jaffray Woodriff expressed his excitement for the future of UVA’s School of Data Science and its impact on expanding field of artificial intelligence. As a champion of data science himself he looks forward to UVA’s contributions in navigating ethical challenges in AI years ahead.
