U.VA. ARCHITECTURE SCHOOL ALUMNUS DONATES $100,000 TO CREATE
ENVIRONMENTALLY INNOVATIVE MASTER PLAN
 FOR ADDITION AND RENOVATION

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 17 -- A University of Virginia
School of Architecture alumnus has given $100,000 to fund an
environmentally innovative master plan for a major addition and
renovation of Campbell Hall, which houses the school.
	The gift by Victor Elmaleh, a 1942 alumnus and chairman of
the board of World-Wide Holdings Corp. of New York, is a key step in
a major project that is part of the University's $750 million
capital campaign.  Adhering to the environmentally sensitive design
concepts of architecture dean William McDonough, the School of
Architecture project is intended to be a model of environmentally
sustainable building design.
	Elmaleh, who has been a partner in major real estate
development projects in New York City and who is also an artist,
previously commissioned the production of "Mr. Jefferson and His
University," an hour-long special documentary prepared for the 250th
anniversary of U.Va. founder Thomas Jefferson's birth in 1993.
	"Mr. Elmaleh's generosity will enable us to plan for the
21st century following many of Jefferson's ideals about education
and building in harmony with the environment," McDonough said.  
	The master plan for the architecture school will be
developed by award-winning Steven Holl of Steven Holl Architects of
New York following school-wide discussions in coming months
involving students, faculty and alumni.  Comprehensive in scope, the
plan will consider a wide range of issues, including how the
building relates to its natural and historical surroundings.  In the
process the plan will project the curricular and physical plant
needs of the school over the next 50 years.
	Holl's plan also will take into consideration recent work by
a group of U.Va. architecture students made possible by a $50,000
grant from the Nathan Cummings Foundation.  With the Cummings
support the students have been exploring such topics as the use of
photovoltaic cells in solar energy and environmentally friendly
building materials and techniques.  Holl's charge is to develop a
plan that includes "green" design ideas with the aesthetic concepts
for which he has won renown.  His work has been the subject of
exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Walker
Art Center in Minneapolis and in 1993 he won a prestigious American
Institute of Architects Honor Award.
	Among Victor Elmaleh's best known projects is World Wide
Plaza, an office and residential complex on the site formerly
occupied by the original Madison Square Garden.  Construction of the
project was the subject of an acclaimed PBS series titled
"Skyscraper."
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January 16, 1996