Engineering Hall is an administrative building at the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

. It is located in the south end of the Bardeen Quadrangle on Green Street in

Urbana, Illinois Urbana ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Champaign County, Illinois, United States. As of the 2020 census, Urbana had a population of 38,336. As of the 2010 United States Census, Urbana is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 38th-most pop ...

, facing the

Illini Union The Illini Union, located at 1401 West Green Street in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, is the student union for the University. The building was dedicated on November 1, 1941, as the campus's ...

. Engineering Hall serves all disciplines within the

UIUC College of Engineering The Grainger College of Engineering is the engineering college of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was established in 1868 and is considered one of the original units of the school. Every engineering program in the college is ...

and is well known for representing the school's colors with its orange bricks and blue roof. In addition to many offices and conference rooms, 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, at the request of Professor Nathan Ricker, 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.Dedication of Engineering Hall and the Inauguration of President Draper
http://uihistories.ncsa.uiuc.edu, accessed on October 19, 2009. Fifteen designs were received, and after much deliberation, George Bullard's design was accepted. Bullard was from

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...

and was a student of UIUC architect and professor

Nathan Ricker Nathan Clifford Ricker, Doctor of Architecture, D.Arch (June 24, 1843 – March 19, 1924) was a professor and architect known for his work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Illinois. He was born on a farm near A ...

, the designer of

Altgeld Hall Altgeld Hall, located at 1409 West Green Street in Urbana, Illinois on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) Campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, campus, was built in 1896–97 and was designed by Nathan Ricker and ...

. 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 Danville is a city in and the county seat of Vermilion County, Illinois. As of the 2010 census, its population was 33,027. As of 2019, the population was an estimated 30,479. History The area that is now Danville was once home to the Miami, K ...

.http://uihistories.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/rview_browsepdf?REPOSID=8&ID=9464&pagenum=54 Engineering Hall was completed on November 15, 1894. It was the first University building constructed solely for the use of a single college.Engineering Hall
http://uihistories.ncsa.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/cview?SITEID=1&ID=79, accessed on October 15, 2009. 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.

Floorplan

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 The term Engineers Without Borders (EWB; french: Ingénieurs sans frontières, ISF) is used by a number of non-governmental organizations in various countries to describe their activity based on engineering and oriented to international development ...

(EWB),

Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers The Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) 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 serv ...

Tau Beta Pi The Tau Beta Pi Association (commonly Tau Beta Pi, , or TBP) is the oldest engineering honor society and the second oldest collegiate honor society in the United States. It honors engineering students in American universities who have shown a ...

, the

Society of Women Engineers The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an international not-for-profit educational and service organization. Founded in 1950 and headquartered in the United States, the Society of Women Engineers is a major advocate for women in engineering and ...

, and the

National Society of Black Engineers The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) is a society that was founded in 1975 at Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana. It is one of the largest student-run organizations in the United States, with core activities centered o ...

. 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 () is a professional engineering fraternity. The fraternity has programs to promote the social, academic, and professional development of its members. Today, Theta Tau is the oldest and largest professional engineering fraternity and h ...

and the Theta chapter of

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 late ...

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 is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 waterway that drains much of the cities of Champaign and Urbana, Illinois. It is a tributary of the ...

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 A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers u ...

and a break room with several

vending machines A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

. Just outside 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, or simply Office, is the former name of a family of client software, server software, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. Initially a marketin ...

, it also includes

AutoCAD AutoCAD is a commercial computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting software application. Developed and marketed by Autodesk, AutoCAD was first released in December 1982 as a desktop app running on microcomputers with internal graphics controllers. ...

Autodesk Inventor Autodesk Inventor is a computer-aided design application for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization, and documentation developed by Autodesk. Features Inventor allows 2D and 3D data integration in a single environment, creating a virt ...

Eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...

MATLAB MATLAB (an abbreviation of "MATrix LABoratory") is a proprietary multi-paradigm programming language and numeric computing environment developed by MathWorks. MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation ...

, 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 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 long and deep, with twin wings. Engineering Hall an example of

Renaissance Revival architecture Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

.Campus Landmarks
, , accessed on October 21, 2009. Engineering hall has undergone several renovations during the twentieth century. Some of these improvements include,

wireless internet Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

capabilities,

air conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

, sensor-activated

hand dryers A hand dryer is an electric machine which might make use of a heating element and an air blower to dry the hands after hand washing. It is commonly used in public toilets as a cost-effective alternative to paper towels. It may either operate wit ...

, improved heating systems, and

overhead projector An overhead projector (often abbreviated to OHP), like a film or slide projector, uses light to project an enlarged image on a screen, allowing the view of a small document or picture to be shared with a large audience. In the overhead project ...

s. In Fall 1998, renovations were made to restore the building to its original stature.University of Illinois: Campus Tours
http://uitours.ncsa.uiuc.edu/engineering/enghall/, accessed on October 14, 2009. 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.

References

External links

* http://uihistories.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ * http://uitours.ncsa.uiuc.edu/engineering/enghall/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Uiuc Engineering Hall School buildings completed in 1894

Engineering Hall Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specializ ...