40°26′30″N79°57′14″W / 40.441648°N 79.953792°W /40.441648; -79.953792
Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of theUniversity of Pittsburgh inPittsburgh,Pennsylvania,United States. At 744,695 square feet (69,184.4 m2) it is the largest academic-use building on campus, providing administrative offices, classrooms, lecture halls, a food court, and computer labs. The hall sits on the former site ofForbes Field and contains several artifacts, including the former stadium'shome plate and one of two survivingLangley Aerodromes.
Posvar Hall houses Pitt'sSchool of Education,College of General Studies, School of Public and International Affairs,University Center for International Studies, and theDietrich School of Arts and Sciences's social sciences departments.[1]
Posvar Hall was designed by a consortium of architects, including Louis Valentour of Johnstone Newcomer & Valentour,[2] who worked under the watch of university consultantMax Abramowitz.[3] Construction began in 1975[4] and was completed in 1978 with the dedication occurring on October 19, 1978.[5] The building sits on the former site ofForbes Field baseball stadium and beside the university'sHillman Library on the corner of Schenley Drive and Roberto Clemente Drive, with Bouquet Street running along its west side. Enclosed passageways connect Posvar Hall toDavid Lawrence Hall, theBarco Law Building, and theLitchfield Towers.
Posvar Hall was designed in theBrutalist style and is constructed with concrete with a limestone exterior.[6] Its height was limited to five stories so it would not compete withThe Carnegie Institute directly acrossSchenley Plaza. Construction costs exceeded $38 million (equivalent to $153.1 million in 2024[7]). Its floor space slightly exceeds that of theCathedral of Learning. It has 2,000 windows, 574 offices, 30 seminar rooms, three lecture halls, one mile of corridors, and nearly 500 parking spaces in a two-level garage below the facility.
The central area of the interior space is called the Galleria and contains various artwork includingVirgil Cantini's muralEnlightenment and Joy and one ofSamuel Pierpont Langley'saerodromes. Escalators transport individuals between floors.[3]
Originally named Forbes Quadrangle, it was renamed on October 21, 1999, by the university's board of trustees in honor ofWesley W. Posvar (1925–2001), the 15thchancellor of the university.[8]
The building stands on the original site ofForbes Field, home of thePittsburgh Pirates baseball team from 1909–1970 and, at various times, thePittsburgh Steelers,Homestead Grays, andPitt's own football team. The stadium was dismantled starting in July 1971, and construction on the new building started soon afterwards and continued until 1974.[chronology citation needed] The building incorporates many reminders of the famous ballpark—thehome plate of Forbes Field remains near its exact spot, protected underplexiglass. The outfield wall is outlined in the sidewalk by bricks, and the portion of the famously deep left-center field wall still stands across the street, marked "457 Feet". Originally, the classrooms were numbered to reflect the seating section of the old stadium where each classroom was located. However, this system confused people, so it was changed in 2004 to a standard four-digit numbering system.
Virgil Cantini's colorful porcelain enamel on steel muralEnlightenment and Joy (1977) is on display on the ground floor.[9] The piece is an example of Cantini's use of circles, representing the Earth, Moon, and Sun, an artistic trend inspired by theApollo Moon landings. The work was created to honor former University ChancellorEdward Litchfield, who died in a plane crash in 1968.[10]
Cantini's 1965 steel rod and multicolored glass sculptureNew Horizons, Skyscape is also on display near room 1500.[11] The sculpture was donated to the university by theJoseph Horne Company from its department store in theSouth Hills Village mall where it had previously been on display.[3]
Tony Smith's 1971 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) painted steel sculptureLight Up!, commissioned byWestinghouse and originally displayed in downtown Pittsburgh,[11] can be found outside Posvar Hall, between it andHillman Library.[12] Donated to and re-installed at Pitt in 1988, it was temporarily loaned to theMuseum of Modern Art and displayed in front of theSeagram Building inNew York City for a 1988 Tony Smith retrospective.[11]
One of two survivingLangley Aerodromes, Aerodrome No. 6 dating from 1896, is displayed in the ground floor lobby amid various artworks and sculptures. The Aerodrome was anexperimental aircraft commissioned by theUnited States Army from former Pitt professor andSmithsonian Institution SecretarySamuel Langley. It flew 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in November 1896, further proving (after the success of No. 5 in May) the feasibility of engine-drivenheavier-than-air flight. The aircraft was restored in part byPitt engineering students. Fabric on the wings and tail is the only new material, however; the tail and several wing ribs were rebuilt using wood provided by the Smithsonian Institution and dating from the same time period.[13] The restoration was completed over two years and the plane placed on display in Posvar Hall in 1980.[14]
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| Preceded by | University of Pittsburgh Buildings Posvar Hall Constructed: 1975-1978 | Succeeded by |
