the campus was designed by the state architect william nichols, who also designed the state capitol building in downtown tuscaloosa. it was designed as an academic village, speak, on the model of the university of virginia. even going so far as to design a rotunda based on both jefferson's rotunda at uva and also on the pantheon. our rotunda was actually a half scale version of the ancient pantheon in rome. >> i think the whole idea was bound up with putting tuscaloosa on the map more than anything. we had been designated as the capital of the state, moving it west. there was a lot of energy in settling the western part of the state of alabama. and so alongside with that political center comes an educational center. so the land is granted 1.5 miles west of the government. initiated here with huge resources. so we've got the state architect brought in. he has designed the most magnificent space in the south, it could be argued. and he has laid out a plan along the lines of jefferson's village, it makes quite a statement. between the time of its founding in 1831 to the epic of the civil war, t

the campus was designed by the state architect william nichols, who also

the campus was designed by the state architect william nichols, who also designed the state capitol buildingn downtown tuscaloosa. it was designed as an academic village, speak, on the model of the university of virginia. even going so far as to design a rotunda based on both jefferson's rotunda at uva and also on the pantheon. our rotunda was actually a half scale version of the ancient pantheon in rome. >> i think the whole idea was bound up with putting tuscaloosa on the map more than anything. we had been designated as the capital of the state, moving it west. there was a lot of energy in settling the western part of the state of alabama. and so alongside with that political center comes an educational center. so the land is granted 1.5 miles west of the government. initiated here with huge resources. so we've got the state architect brought in. he has designed the most magnificent space in the south, it could be argued. and he has laid out a plan along the lines of jefferson's village, it makes quite a statement. between the time of its founding in 1831 to the epic of the civil war, the