4/14

4/14

We first stopped at the Education building on our tour today, which was kind of cool considering I'm Chemistry for secondary education. Walking there, we discovered that the education building was supposed to be a twin. It kind of makes sense that we wanted a second building back then; I think there was a bigger importance placed on k-12 education at the time (1964). Anyways, walking up to the building, it was noted that it looked like a temple (kind of like a temple of learning), and that the sidewalk gradated from coarse stones to finer stones. In addition to this, when you looked from in front of the education building, you saw that it was on axis with the archway by Wohlers, creating an axis. Going in, the ceilings looked like they were made from concrete, but they were actually steel with concrete poured on it. Looking at the sides of the walls was kind of cool. They had wooden slats to cover all the icky necessities such as air ducts and heaters and the like. We went upstairs onto the balcony as well (I didn't even know you could go on the balcony. Or that there even was a balcony), and we were able to see that the bottom of the building was significantly larger than the top of the building.

After visiting the Education Building, we headed over to the Krannert Art Museum. It has a "pregnant belly" that kind of invites people in from the field area. Walking inside we were able to view it from the other side, and we also noticed that the banister of the staircase had a design that looked like the museum on it. We just kind of wandered around the museum for awhile after that, and saw some interesting works of art.

4/23

4/23

Today we went to Philo, Illinois. It was a nice drive out there, we passed the time counting grain elevators. Getting to the town was nice, it was really interesting to see the differences between a small town and a Chicago-suburb. Instead of having cookie cutter houses, each house was different and didn't necessarily follow a style. In addition to this, the trees were incredibly diverse. Back at home, the trees are mainly American Basswood, Honeylocust, and Red Maple (there were ash but they all got cut down). In Philo, there were Sycamores, Japanese Maples, Yellow Poplars (tuliptrees), other kinds of maples I wan't able to identify because of lack of leaves, Sweetgums, and possibly a green ash (we drove by it so I wasn't entirely sure). Even the lawns were kind of diverse. A lot of them had wildflowers growing on them which was really beautiful, and something I don't get to see at home. It was just really refreshing to see a bunch of different tree types and just something different than what I'm used to a neighborhood being.

After that we went to get food and drinks (soda/lemonade/water) in a tavern, and we talked and had a really nice time.

4/7 & 4/9

4/7

Smith Hall was really beautiful to see. I had been in there once before, but it was for an event a really long time ago, so I had totally forgotten what it looked like! I had never understood why the main entrance to the building wasn't facing the quad, but it's to open the building up for the music majors coming from the East, as well as the public coming to view the show. The walls are built so that it's acoustic, which I'm thinking is pretty standard nowadays for grand auditoriums. Walking through the building was really cool though. I loved hearing the music played in the hallways (there was some jazz violin going on at the time, which I didn't know was a thing), and the beautiful water fountain, which didn't work unfortunately... We weren't able to go into another room because there was a class in there, but from the little I could see of it, there was a beautiful chandelier.

The Foreign Language Building has always interested me. It's so weirdly shaped and just never seemed to fit in. There was an interesting story that Professor Hinders came up with about how the architect was inviting God to come in. While that is a really cool explanation of the building, and it makes complete sense, I don't know if that's what the architect was actually thinking. I suppose the true story behind the design of the Foreign Language Building will remain a mystery to me.

The Institute for Genomic Biology was really cool to see because I had never been in there before. The statues by the building are meant to represent the fact that sciences like genomic biology are always changing, and are being progressed by the work of scientists. Well, that's what I think anyways. Inside the building was cool because there were a lot of subtle biology things incorporated into the building. The ground was made up of long dead, pressurized living matter. The walls had wood on them, and another wall by the sitting area had a ton of fossils prints hanging from it. It's kind of funny how the Morrow plots had an effect on that building too. I hadn't noticed that part of the building was pushed underground because of the plots until someone pointed it out to me. One thing that I really liked was out on the sidewalk across from the blobs and over the open space near the flowers. When I was walking back, I noticed that the sidewalk had a pattern on it that resembled DNA helicase. It's just kind of cool to see the subtle things that can be put in.

3/31 & 4/2

3/31

Today we visited the cemetery. I had never been there before, so it was kind of cool seeing how it was sectioned out into different religions. In the Jewish part of the cemetery, there were stones placed next to many of the graves for remembrance.

We also walked over a potter's field to get to the section for veterans. It had a really nice memorial flag pole set up. At one point they had also had four bushes sectioning it off to make corners for the area, but three of them started getting overgrown and had to be removed.

It was kind of interesting seeing the politics that go on in grave sites. Both the athletic director and the coach of the football team are buried on the 50 yard line, however, the director is closer to the field, and visible from the sidewalk. In addition to this, it was kind of interesting how families would set up a barrier around an area so that other people wouldn't encroach on the space.

4/2

Today we visited a construction site.The building will be for veterans, and it was really cool seeing how the building was being constructed to reflect the purpose of it. For example, the guy who was giving us the tour said that all mechanical rooms are pressed for space, and elevator mechanic rooms are even worse. Even though they had limited space, they made sure to put in two elevators because that might be necessary for the population that would be using the building. In addition to this, the rooms on the top floor had a track built into the ceiling. This would be for a movable chair that can be inserted into the ceiling, which would allow for the student to get around the room and to the bathroom without any assistance. There was a kitchen on the ground floor that would be used to help people learn to cook, and there were a series of offices and physical therapy rooms that could be used by the students.

One thing that I really found interesting was the way the common room was laid out. The outside walls were mostly made of windows, and the room was very open. The architecture had designed it this way because it allowed for the people there to see who's coming and going, which would make them feel more at ease. The openness is because apparently many veterans get anxious when in closed off spaces.

3/17 &3/19

3/17

Today we walked around Campustown! It was really interesting hearing how the changes to campustown came from joint collaboration from U of I, the business owners, and the city of Champaign.

It was really interesting to hear how surveying the students changed the landscape of Campustown. Originally, there were multiple lanes going in each direction and very narrow sidewalks, but now it's been transformed into more of a place by expanding the sidewalks and decreasing the number of lanes through that section of green street.

It was also kind of funny seeing houses built right in to so many of the buildings on green street! For some of them, it makes sense, but for other ones were they just built it into the building, it makes no sense to me.

It was also kind of cool learning about the canopies over the north and south sides of the streets. It makes more sense that the north side gets a larger canopy, and now I understand why the campus flowers' canopy always seemed so big.

3/19

Turned in models today! Almost break!

3/10 & 3/12

3/10

Today we visited downtown Champaign. It was really cool learning about the history of Champaign, and how it used to be called West Urbana, and how Urbana was named after Urbana, Ohio by immigrating pioneers.

Something that I found kind of cool was the fact that Champaign tried to increase commerce by creating an outdoor-walking mall, but instead of increasing it, sales dropped. They ended up going over some of the sidewalks so that people could drive over them again, and commerce picked up once again. You're still able to see traces of this in the way that the sidewalk is still cobblestone.

In addition to this, it was really interesting how there were at least four churches located right by the park. This is because for a long time, shops couldn't be open on Sunday, so the park provided wholesome, after-church activity for families.

3/12

Today we brought in our models. It was really weird cutting up the work someone else did. Next week the final presentation is due! I'll definitely have to work on that!

3/3 & 3/5

3/3

Today we went to BIF on our class tour. It was really interesting learning all about the LEED certification process. BIF is certified under some sort of LEED (I don't believe we ever figured out whether it was bronze, silver, gold, or platinum). However, it was slightly disappointing that buildings get points for simply adding features to their building. For instance, the panels that BIF has on parts of its roof were filthy, which doesn't allow for a whole lot of energy to be taken from the panels. They're still getting points for this however, simply because they're there. It's the same with the shower/changing stalls at BIF by the bike rack. Most people don't know it's there, and it's kind of a wasted space. Last year I wrote a paper on LEED and how, in theory it was an okay idea, but in reality it was awful simply because you could just add a lot of things to a building to get certification.

On a side note, I really loved the main staircases at BIF.

3/5

Today I went to the EXPO and conversed with WJE (Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc.) The following is an abbreviated record of the conversation we had.

-What kind of projects does your firm take on?

-Well, we're engineers, architects, and material scientists and we look at buildings with problems so it could be as small as a residence, or as large as a large commercial building.

-What kind of problems do you typically find in buildings?

-All sorts! It could be structural, as bad as a collapse, or as small as a water leak and everything in between. Condensation, material issues, interface detailing problems, planning issues, you name it.

-How big is your firm?

-We're a little over 500 people. We've got 18 offices across the country. 19? 19, it's already growing!

-Do you guys spend a lot of time on construction sites?

-Yeah, we spend a lot of time in the field doing investigations, and then if we're involved in the repairs we spend a lot of time at the site as well.

- So, you said you hire material scientists too?

-Yeah, we do. We have our own laboratory, which is unique in our consulting field, and we have our own chemists and engineers with a material science background.

-What is typically a starting salary for you?

-That's a really good question that I don't know the answer to! I think it depends on what level you're entering the company at. We're not really involved in that. We just attract the good people.

-What's one of the biggest projects you guys have taken on?

-There's a lot... Notable projects that were big were... the I-35 collapse, the big dig project in Boston, we actually did an investigation of a plane crash once, alcatraz...those are just some of the more well known ones. We do a lot of work for state capitals as well.

2/24 & 2/26

2/23

Today we visited the Erlanger House on Indiana Avenue. It was really cool seeing how the houses on the street were very open and welcoming because they had a front porch and a doorway that was visible from the sidewalk, but when you reached Erlanger House, it seemed kind of cold and unwelcoming in comparison. The front door was hidden behind a corner and, had it not been for the stairs, I wouldn't have found it right away.

Walking into the house was very interesting because of its unique design and minimalist style. There were so many open spaces, and the fact that there were very few vertical walls, and that they didn't go all the way to the edge made the house seem bigger.

I think the fact that the house was designed for a dance instructor really shows. The light-switches on the floor as well as the staircase (which was really cool) shows that legs and feet were a huge component of the Ms. Erlanger's life. (Kind of a weirdly worded sentence... not sure how else to put it though, so oh well!)



2/26

Today we brought in our first drafts for our shoebox project. Looks like I'll have a lot of work to do!

2/17 & 2/19

2/17

Today in class we toured Huff Hall, the Armory, and the Football practice building.

We started class with Huff hall and began discussing the ceiling and the structure of it. The ceiling actually reminded me of a bridge by my grandma's house, so I guess it kind of works in the same way. Through a series of metal rods, the largest arch transfers the force put onto it into columns that are located on the sides of the stadium. There was also another beam (maybe it was called a tress?, I don't quite remember) that caused the largest arch to seem like it was smaller than it actually is.

We then went to the armory, which was my favorite building of the day. One side of the arch is cemented down, and a pin is used to hold the two sides together so that the building can't really move. They then added rooms in addition to this which are on the second level. These rooms put stress onto beams that then make a pathway through other beams until all of the stress from the rooms are eventually put into a series of columns.

Lastly we went to the football practice stadium. I didn't find that one quite as impressive as the others, but it was interesting that they chose to do the arch the opposite way that most people would.

2/19

Today we finished discussing the threshold projects. I really liked seeing how thresholds meant different things to different people.

We also discussed our new assignment, which has a lot of rules to it... I came up with three ideas, but all of them were eventually knocked out from one rule or another. I'll figure something out!

2/10 &2/12

2/10

Today we were supposed to tour the mechanical room of the architecture building, but unfortunately that didn't happen! The room was re-keyed, and no one was able to get in.

Something really cool about the heaters in the building that I learned about was that it pushes hot air out by pulling in cold air. The air conditioning in one of the design rooms also runs on the same concept. It's kind of interesting to me just because we've discussed this kind of process in one of my chemistry classes, and now it's applicable to real life.

We instead followed pipes around the building and discussed those. Most of the pipes were labeled which is a really good idea, even though it's not something you'd first think of doing.

There wasn't a whole lot that stuck out to me today as being incredibly interesting other than the heaters, so I suppose this will be a relatively short post, but it was still a cool tour, and I loved being able to walk around the building and see a bunch of the rooms!


2/12

Today we looked at approximately half of the projects due today about the threshold assignment. It was really interesting to see what everyone's interpretation of thresholds are! There's not too much to write about today, but it was still a pretty cool day!

2/5/15

We toured Krannert on Thursday, and learned a lot of really interesting things that I would never have known otherwise. We started out our tour in the main lobby (which is approximately nine tennis courts long), where we learned about the floor. It's a very interesting design that was apparently designed by Eleanora Krannert. The floor also contained an entire shipment of an endangered tree (not remembering the name), so people that work at Krannert are very protective of it apparently! I believe the tour guide said there was no gum chewing allowed. It was kind of cool to look at the floor and see how it has worn over time. You were able to see hundreds of little pocket marks from women's heels.

We then ventured to the scene shop which was really cool to see (I did set design for theater in high school). The scene shop apparently has a different foundation than that of the stages so that if people are working in the shop, the vibrations wouldn't be felt on stage.

We went into the playhouse later, and we found that it had 92 feet of fly space above the stage box. This is kind of unusual because most stages have their fly space in the wings. We also found out that each of the theaters were built with a specific purpose. The Great Hall was built for concerts, the playhouse was built for plays, and another was built for operas.

This tour was particularly interesting to me because I did tech in high school and came down to Krannert for Theaterfest one year.

1/27/2015 &1/29/15

1/27/15
Today in architecture we toured the main and the northern parts of campus, and I learned a lot of really cool stuff that I never would have known about otherwise. We started off at Foellinger Auditorium where we got to listen to a little bit of an anatomy lesson. I think they were talking about the heart, but I don't quite remember... Anyways, once in Foellinger, Professor Hinders discussed that the dome shape has come to represent community and democracy in the U.S. I guess I had never really thought of it that way, but it does make sense. Both the capitol building and the Jefferson Memorial have domed roofs. Assembly hall actually held the record at one point for being the largest domed structure in North America, which is kind of a cool fact, but I digress.

Anyways, after that we walked over to the quad's second axis (where it has the bike path running through it). Apparently there was a tram running through the middle of campus, so that sounds kind of cool! Car companies bought it out and destroyed it though so more people would use cars though, so that's not cool.

While we were on the main quad we also talked about how there's an enclosed space thanks to the fact that the buildings are about the same height and that the buildings have edges that would connect with each other if it wasn't for the fact that there are sidewalks in between them. Another thing that's interesting about the quad is that originally they had planned for it to be a block I shape with the Union being the top of the I. However, Harker hall got in the way of that and was made into a historical building so they couldn't expand to make the I. Even though the building really shouldn't be there, I can't say I can complain, especially considering my parents met in that building!

After that, we marched off to the Bardeen quad, where I spent way too many hours at last year... The Bardeen quad is off axis from the rest of the quad because Engineering Hall is pretty much lined up with the Union, meaning that the pathway to the Bardeen Quad pretty much had to line up with the sidewalk off of the main quad. Fortunately, it lines back up with the main quad later, thanks to Grainger! There's an alcove out of the back of the library so that another pathway up to the northernmost quad is back inline with everything.

We went up onto the northernmost quad and discussed how the Beckman Institute isn't the greatest building mainly because it's unwelcoming to people on the other side of Beckman because it's a two-block long wall that's a barrier to the University, it doesn't match anything else on campus, and it kind of looks like a phallic symbol. On the other hand though, there's the new ECE building, which is gorgeous! It's made out of terracotta to make the building look smaller and less imposing. I've heard there are showers in there, I'm wondering if it's just a rumor or if it's true. I should check it out some time!

1/29/15
Today was the tour of the power plant. The power plant actually isn't responsible for supplying electricity to campus, but rather steam. It was a little noisy and it was hard to hear the speaker, but I was still able to hear and see some really interesting stuff.
First we discussed the water that is used by the boilers and turbines. Apparently it's so pure that if you drink it, minerals will be extracted from your bodies.They use water this pure so that any impurities won't gunk up the turbines.
In addition to this, they also release water vapor so that it won't mess with the turbines as well. They are only able to use dry steam in the turbines.
We were able to look inside one of the boilers while it was running, which freaked me out a little, but it was pretty cool looking.
In addition to this, we were able to see the opening to the steam tunnels in the plant. It was about 180 degrees when we were standing by the door, so it's probably a good thing that people aren't allowed to go in there. I believe the speaker said that human flesh starts cooking at 130 degrees, but I don't quite remember...
Anyways, it was a really cool tour, and not at all what I was expecting.