STRATFORD HALL MASTER PLAN AND CULTURAL CENTER
Stratford, VA
Stratford Hall, overlooking the Potomac River in Virginia, is the ancestral home of the Lee family, including Richard and Francis Lee, both signers of the Declaration of Independence, and Robert E. Lee, the General-in-Chief of the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. The House, completed in 1783, is the main structure of a self-sufficient plantation complex now under the care of the National Park Services. The architectural legacy of Stratford Hall is significant - it is one of the finest examples of early American Georgian houses. The H-shaped plan is Palladian in concept but the two arched and clustered chimneys, unique and memorable, are attributed to the influence of the British architect Sir John Vanbrugh.
An invited competition addressed the creation of a new complex of buildings at the Stratford Hall main arrival location from which the historical buildings and grounds are accessed by crossing a bridge over a ravine. Two existing structures - a small library and museum - were to be adapted to an expanded program including an entry plaza with ticketing and an information space, an expanded museum, archive space, an expanded library with cafe and shop, an administration building, a flexible event space and kitchen, and an improved parking and drop-off arrival experience with new bus parking capability.
The concept for the project was to design a cohesive ensemble of buildings that form a central plaza to serve as an entry portal to Stratford Hall's buildings and grounds. The plantation possesses balance between formal relationships of structures with a more casual set of practical landscape strategies such as the ha-ha wall directly in front of the main house that permits grazing while keeping animals at bay. Like the original structures of Stratford Hall, the buildings of the new complex were to be built with brick, stone and wood, and designed to be of our time and complimentary to the unique historical environment preserved to enhance our understanding of life at the dawn of America.
Project by Asfour Guzy Architects.
Invited Competition:
Finalist