UIUC Engineering Hall
Encyclopedia
Engineering Hall is an administrative building at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

. It is located in the south end of the Bardeen Quadrangle on Green Street in Urbana, Illinois
Urbana, Illinois
Urbana is the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,250. Urbana is the tenth-most populous city in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area....

, facing the Illini Union
Illini Union
The Illini Union is a student union at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is located just east of the intersection of Green and Wright Streets....

. Engineering Hall serves all disciplines within the UIUC College of Engineering
UIUC College of Engineering
The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was first established in 1868, and is considered one of the original units of the school. The presence of a steam engine on the University's seal is a good clue as to the importance of the engineering program to the...

 and is well known for representing the school's colors with its orange bricks and blue roof. In addition to many offices and conference room, Engineering Hall also includes two computer labs and four lecture halls. Engineering Hall also houses many engineering-based student organizations in its offices.

History

In early 1893, the UIUC Board of Trustees asked the State of Illinois for $160,000 to construct a building for its College of Engineering. After the state approved of the grant, the board asked for designs for the new building. However, they accepted designs only from the university's graduate architecture students at the request of its alumni. Fifteen designs were received, and after much deliberation, George Bullard's design was accepted. Bullard was from Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma, Washington
Tacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...

 and was a student of UIUC architect and professor Nathan Ricker, the designer of Altgeld Hall
Altgeld Hall
Altgeld Hall, built in 1897 on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus, United States, is home to the Department of Mathematics and the Mathematics Library. Altgeld Hall was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. A feature of Altgeld Hall is the University Chime...

. Bullard graduated from the University of Illinois in 1882. He was later made architect of the building. A general contractor was needed to oversee the construction. Bids were advertised starting on September 11, 1893. The project was awarded to Yeager & Schultz of Danville, IL.

Engineering Hall was completed on November 15, 1894. It was the first University building constructed solely for the use of a single college. The building consisted of orange bricks and its roof was dark blue. In fact, it was the completion of Engineering Hall that led to the adoption of orange and navy blue as the school colors.

1st floor

The first floor on Engineering Hall has many small offices for some of the student engineering organizations such as Engineering Council, Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders – International is an international association of some national EWB/ISF groups, whose mission is to facilitate collaboration, exchange of information, and assistance among its member groups that have applied to become part of the association...

(EWB), Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers
The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers was founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1974 by a group of engineers employed by the city of Los Angeles. Their objective was to form a national organization of professional engineers to serve as role models in the Hispanic community.Social...

, Tau Beta Pi
Tau Beta Pi
The Tau Beta Pi Association is the oldest engineering honor society in the United States and the second oldest collegiate honor society in America. It honors engineering students who have shown a history of academic achievement as well as a commitment to personal and professional integrity...

, the Society of Women Engineers
Society of Women Engineers
The Society of Women Engineers , founded in 1950, is a not-for-profit educational and service organization. SWE is the driving force that establishes engineering as a highly desirable career aspiration for women. SWE empowers women to succeed and advance in those aspirations and be recognized for...

, and the Society of Black Engineers. There are four small lecture classrooms on the first floor, each seating about 40 people. Lecture rooms may be rented out to student organizations. As of 2008, the Kappa Chapter of Theta Tau
Theta Tau
ΘΤ Fraternity was founded in 1904 by four engineering students at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. As defined by the fraternity, the purpose of Theta Tau is to develop and maintain a high standard of professional interest among its members, and to unite them in a strong bond of...

 and the Theta Chapter of Alpha Omega Epsilon
Alpha Omega Epsilon
Alpha Omega Epsilon is a social and professional sorority for women in engineering and technical sciences. The sorority was founded by twenty-seven female engineering students at Marquette University on November 13, 1983, and four months later on March 22, 1984, it became a recognized organization...

 use these rooms for their general meetings. There are two side entrances on either wing and a rear entrance that opens to the veranda overlooking the Boneyard Creek
Boneyard Creek
Boneyard Creek is a waterway that drains much of the cities of Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It is a tributary of the Saline Branch of the Salt Fork Vermilion River, which is a tributary of the south-flowing Vermilion River and the Wabash River. The creek flows through the northern sections of...

 behind the building. The three sets of doors are locked at night, but UIUC students may enter the building to use the computer lab by swiping their ID on the scanner, which would unlock the doors. The first floor also includes a room with a photocopier
Photocopier
A photocopier is a machine that makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. Most current photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process using heat...

 and a break room with several vending machines. Just outside of its west entrance are bicycle racks, a Tau Beta Pi statue of its insignia, and an open area known as Area 51, which is used to hold many social engineering events.

2nd floor

The main entrance is located on the second floor. The second floor houses the offices of the deans of the College of Engineering. The deans and academic advisors are located here to answer questions and provide any other information about Engineering at Illinois. The College of Engineering Store, which sells apparel, gifts, and other merchandise, is located just outside in the hallway. The office of International Programs of Engineering (IPENG) is located on the east wing. There are several conference rooms on this floor as well. The second floor is only open to students during regular hours on the weekdays, unless for some special occasions.

3rd floor

This floor has many conference rooms as well as administrative offices. Some social events such as receptions for UIUC Engineering Alumni, are held here. Like the second floor, this area is off-limits to students during the night.

4th floor

The fourth floor houses two computer labs, known as Engineering Work Stations (EWS) as well as more administrative offices and conference rooms. These labs are maintained by the custodial staff as well as student lab assistants. The labs are accessible to students all day, however, only students in engineering may log on to the computers. Students must use their student IDs to get into the building at night.

Computing and technologies

As of 2009, each computer lab has 40 Windows computers. Four printers and two scanners are shared among these 80 computers. Only engineering students can use these computers. Students are given a printing quota of 300 units per semester. One black-and-white page costs one unit and one colored page costs four. Print jobs can be sent to EWS labs in other buildings. The labs are maintained by student lab consultants. Instructors may reserve the labs for their classes. The two labs are open for student use 24 hours per day, 7 days per week each semester.

The EWS computers have the most current software used by engineering students. In addition to Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office
Microsoft Office is a non-free commercial office suite of inter-related desktop applications, servers and services for the Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, introduced by Microsoft in August 1, 1989. Initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of...

, it also includes AutoCAD
AutoCAD
AutoCAD is a software application for computer-aided design and drafting in both 2D and 3D. It is developed and sold by Autodesk, Inc. First released in December 1982, AutoCAD was one of the first CAD programs to run on personal computers, notably the IBM PC...

, Autodesk Inventor
Autodesk Inventor
Autodesk Inventor, developed by U.S.-based software company Autodesk, is 3D mechanical solid modeling design software for creating 3D digital prototypes used in the design, visualization and simulation of products...

, Eclipse
Eclipse (software)
Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment comprising an integrated development environment and an extensible plug-in system...

, MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

, and Iode, an educational software package developed by UIUC professor in mathematics Peter Brinkmann. The computers are updated with the latest software. For example, as of Fall 2009, Autodesk Inventor 2010 has replaced the 2009 version.

Construction and maintenance

Engineering Hall was designed by UIUC graduate student George Bullard. The contractor responsible for the construction was Yeager & Schultz. The 63800 square feet (5,927.2 m²) building cost $162,278.40 to construct and featured an interior richly appointed with oak and a ceiling paneled in Washington fir. The graduating class of 1894 inscribed their class numerals in a stone tablet by the Green Street entrance as a class memorial. The 4-story building was 200 feet (61 m) long and 138 feet (42.1 m) deep, with twin 76 feet (23.2 m) wings. Engineering Hall an example of Renaissance Revival architecture.

Engineering hall has undergone several renovations during the twentieth century. Some of these improvements include, wireless internet capabilities, air conditioning
Air conditioning
An air conditioner is a home appliance, system, or mechanism designed to dehumidify and extract heat from an area. The cooling is done using a simple refrigeration cycle...

, sensor-activated hand dryers, improved heating systems, and overhead projector
Overhead projector
An overhead projector is a variant of slide projector that is used to display images to an audience.-Mechanism:An overhead projector typically consists of a large box containing a very bright lamp and a fan to cool it. On top of the box is a large fresnel lens that collimates the light...

s. In Fall 1998, renovations were made to restore the building to its original stature. On June 12, 1998, the relocation of staff and furnishings from the building were complete. On August 1, 1998, work formally began and the renovation was completed in 2000.

See also

  • UIUC College of Engineering
    UIUC College of Engineering
    The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign was first established in 1868, and is considered one of the original units of the school. The presence of a steam engine on the University's seal is a good clue as to the importance of the engineering program to the...

  • UIUC Engineering Campus
    UIUC Engineering Campus
    The Engineering Campus is the colloquial name for the Bardeen Quadrangle and the Beckman Quadrangle at the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.-Bardeen Quadrangle:...

  • Grainger Engineering Library
    Grainger Engineering Library
    The Grainger Engineering Library is a library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Engineering dedicated to all disciplines of engineering at the University...


External links

  • http://uihistories.ncsa.uiuc.edu/
  • http://uitours.ncsa.uiuc.edu/engineering/enghall/
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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