Burchard Hall
Address: 1327 Perry St., Blacksburg, VA 24061
Named for Charles H. Burchard, founding dean of the College of Architecture, Burchard Hall was built beneath Cowgill Plaza adjacent to Cowgill Hall. Completed in 1998, Burchard Hall provides additional studio space for the architecture and industrial design programs, faculty office space, and workshop facilities, including wood, metal, and plastics shops, photographic darkrooms for film processing and print-making, ceramics, graphics, and textile workshops, and computer/digital media laboratories.
The School of Architecture and School of Design maintain fully-equipped computer input/output laboratories in Burchard Hall, with flatbed and large-format scanners and high quality printing, plotting, and 3-D prototyping devices. The potentials of these new media are employed to aid in visualizing the consequences of design decisions.
The wood and metal shops include an extensive inventory of wood and metal working equipment accessible for student use. Also available are LaserCAMM cutting tools. The shops are supervised by four full-time technicians, skilled in the operation of equipment and available to provide instruction and assistance. The ceramics workshop provides opportunities for form study and analysis, using clay, porcelain, and other plastic media. Various techniques are stressed including those utilizing hand, wheel and slip-casting. The silkscreen workshop allows for the comprehensive study of various printmaking techniques, with emphasis on their potential to contribute to architectural design.