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Benedum Hall

1971 establishments in PennsylvaniaBrutalist architecture in PennsylvaniaUniversity and college buildings completed in 1971University of Pittsburgh academic buildings
BenedumPitt
BenedumPitt

Michael L. Benedum Hall of Engineering is a landmark academic building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The building was designed in the brutalist style by the architectural firm of Deeter, Ritchey, and Sippel and completed in 1971 at a cost of $15 million ($100.4 million today). The building was honored with both the Pennsylvania Society American Institute of Architects Honor Award and Distinguished Building Award. It was built with a gift from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and funds from the General State Authority. It stands on a 1.8-acre (7,300 m2) site that was formerly occupied by the National Guard's Logan Armory.It is fifteen stories (two below ground) and has 419,000 square feet (38,900 m2) of space. It is home to the Swanson School of Engineering and contains classrooms, laboratories, offices, conference and seminar rooms, and is home to the George M. Bevier Engineering Library which serves not only the engineering school, but also the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Department of Geology and Planetary Science. The wall panel behind the circulation desk of the library features a mural carved by Edward Catich. Benedum Hall also includes a computer lab and an Einstein's Express.A $60 million Benedum Hall renovation and expansion project was launched in 2008. A new addition, a $16 million, 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m2) LEED designed structure for the Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation, now connects what was previously the Engineering Auditorium to the second and third floor of the main tower across the previous existing plaza. Originally an essentially separate building only connected by the ground, basement, and sub-basement levels, the auditorium was reconfigured from its original 528-seat space into five separate classrooms. The Mascaro Center moved into its new accommodations in August 2009. In 2012, the Mascaro Center addition to Benedum Hall won the International Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute Design Award in the Educational Facility Category. In addition, the library, computer lab, and club offices moved to the ground and basement levels, administrative offices shifted to the first floor, and other floors of the tower were renovated. A $39.9 million Phase II of renovations to the subbasement, 3rd, 6th, 7th, and 8th floors, as well as the creation of a new 8,000-square-foot (740 m2) mezzanine level, was approved in November, 2010. Renovations creating an energy innovation floor on floor eight were completed in 2013.Former President, CIA Director, and Ambassador George H. W. Bush spoke at the hall during a March 15, 1979 meeting.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Benedum Hall (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Benedum Hall
Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh

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N 40.443811 ° E -79.958488 °
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University of Pittsburgh (Pitt)

Fifth Avenue 4200
15260 Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania, United States
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Gardner Steel Conference Center
Gardner Steel Conference Center

Gardner Steel Conference Center (GSCC) is an academic building of the University of Pittsburgh and a contributing property to the Schenley Farms National Historic District and a Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Historic Landmark.An Early Modern structure built from 1911-1912 by architects Kiehnel and Elliott, has been noted for its capital ornamentation over the entrance doors, and the wave-like shapes repeated across the cornice which likely derive from the German art nouveau movement jugendstil. The building originally served as the Central Turnverein, a German-American social and athletic association, and later known as the Central Athletic Association. It served as the site of various athletic contests, including some involving the University of Pittsburgh. During World War I, it was used to house those in the Student Army Training Corps. Following the war, a severe space shortage at the Dental School prompted the university to purchase the building in 1920 for use as a dental clinic and infirmary. Known then as the Infirmary Building, a 2,500-square-foot (230 m2) annex was erected in 1922 creating enough space in the building to hold 200 dental chairs.The Gardner Steel Conference Center, as it is now known, is currently home to classrooms, computer labs, the Academic Resource Center, and the Innovation Institute. In 1995, the School of Engineering and the Department of Mathematics collaborated on a $250,000 joint project that created a 2,300-square-foot (210 m2) laboratory for the computer instruction of calculus. The Gardner Steel Conference Center is the former home to the Pitt Club, a University of Pittsburgh faculty and staff club defunct since 2003. Previously, it also served for a time as home of the General Alumni Association (now the Pitt Alumni Association based in Alumni Hall).The Gardner Steel Conference Center is named after Gardner Steele, a Pitt alumnus and investor in the oil fields of Oklahoma. He matriculated in 1891 and was a member of one of the first intervarsity football teams and also held the record for the 100-yard (91 m) dash while at Pitt. When he died in 1928, he left the bulk of a $300,000 estate to the university.

Old Engineering Hall
Old Engineering Hall

Old Engineering Hall is an academic building at 3943 O'Hara Street on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The building was completed for $1.2 million($12.1 million today) in October, 1955. The seven floor building connects Allen Hall and Thaw Hall, as well as the Van de Graaff Building which was added later. The frieze around the top of the building includes bas-relief of the insignia of several engineering societies. Originally called Engineering Hall, it initially contained engineering offices, classrooms, laboratories, a library, and in the basement, a wind tunnel for the aeronautical engineering department testing of airfoil surfaces.When the School of Engineering moved into Benedum Hall in 1971, it began to house a variety of psychology and other labs, as well as Art and Sciences instruction labs on the 3rd floor, and the Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures.[1] Renovations, upgrades, and improvements for Old Engineering Hall, Allen Hall, and Thaw Hall, have been announced and preliminarily targeted in to be in excess of $58.6 million according to the University's 12-year facilities master plan. A new set of physics labs was completed in 2009 on the second floor of OEH, replacing the former Physics and Geology Library; its collection was merged into the engineering library across the street in Benedum Hall. In 2010, it was announced that $28.2 million was allocated to proceed with the creation and renovation of 13 Department of Astronomy and Physics laboratories located in Allen Hall, Old Engineering Hall, and the Van de Graaff Building. Renovations of the basement, 2nd and 3rd floors were completed in 2012; renovation of the 1st floor began in June 2015.