JMU Alger Hall Renovation

Alger Hall, formerly Spotswood Hall, is a prominent 3-story stone dormitory building located on JMU’s historic bluestone quad. As part of the building renovation project, the client wished to address significant ADA accessibility issues between the parking lot, Alger Hall, and the adjacent School of Music building, while also improving visual appeal of the dormitory. Monteverde was retained to develop a meaningful design that addressed these issues and create construction documents. Revised walkways and additional plant beds were creatively configured to provide ADA accessibility that responded to the site’s challenging elevations, while greatly reducing the expansive concrete and providing much-needed greenery. The diverse plant palette was carefully selected not only for visual interest at Alger Hall, but to set a precedent for future diverse plantings within the quad as well.