astronomy

Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex

Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex rather than just read about it. In short: The Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex consists of two educational buildings, the Meyer and Anna Prentis Building and the University Auditorium (formerly the DeRoy Auditorium), located respectively at 5201 and 5203 Cass Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, on the campus of Wayne State University. The buildings were built at the same time, and were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki to interrelate…

Key takeaways

Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex consists of two educational buildings, the Meyer and Anna Prentis Building and the University Auditorium (formerly the DeRoy Auditorium), located respectively at 5201 and 5203 Cass Avenue in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, on the campus of Wayne State University. The buildings were built at the same time, and were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki to interrelate functionally, spatially, and architecturally. The buildings were constructed at a critical point in Yamasaki's career when he was experimenting with ornamentation, light and shadow, and the use of pools and gardens to soften perception of standard International Style architecture. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2011.

History

In August 1955, Wayne State University hired architect Minoru Yamasaki to design the McGregor Memorial Conference Center. The commission came after Yamasaki's long convalescence and subsequent trip to Japan, and was his first opportunity to put into practice his re-envisionment of architecture. In 1957, Wayne State hired Yamasaki's firm to develop a master plan for the University's urban campus. Both the McGregor Center and the campus master plan were completed in 1958. The McGregor Center opened to immediate accolades from architectural magazines who called it "delightful" and "refreshing," and from the American Institute of Architects who awarded Yamasaki a First Honor Award for the design. The building solidified Yamasaki's reputation as a masterful International Style architect. Yamasaki's campus master plan called for closing off streets to auto traffic and constructing a campus around pedestrian courts. Although the entirety of Yamasaki's vision was never realized, he did design a total of four buildings on the campus: the aforementioned McGregor Memorial Conference Center in 1957-58, the College of Education Building in 1960, and the two buildings in this complex, the Prentis Building and adjoining Helen L. DeRoy Auditorium, in 1962-64. DeRoy was renamed University Auditorium in 2025. Yamasaki began work on both the Prentis Building and the University Auditorium in the late 1950s. The buildings were to be located directly across from the Main Branch of the Detroit Public Library, on a site that was then an open mall, known as the War Memorial Mall. The mall had been only recently completed (in late 1956). Part of the mall, on which the University Auditorium now sits, had been occupied by the childhood home of Michigan governor G. Mennen Williams.

Meyer and Anna Prentis Building The Meyer and Anna Prentis Building was constructed to meet the needs of Wayne State's growing Business School. The school had been organized in 1946 with 459 undergraduates. By 1964, that number had grown to over 1400 undergraduates and 429 graduate students, with 55 faculty members. Groundbreaking on the structure occurred on August 1, 1962, and the new home for the business school opened on January 28, 1964. The $2.3 million construction cost for the new building was supported through the philanthropy of Federick Meyer Stuart (Stennett) and Anna Mae Prentis (McDonald). A year-and-a-half after the opening, the building was rededicated as the Meyer and Anna Prentis Building. The building was used as the home of the Business School from its opening until the school relocated to a new location by Little Caesars Arena in 2018.

University Auditorium The University Auditorium was constructed at the same time as the Prentis Building. It was built by the firm of Darin & Armstrong for a cost of approximately $600,000. The design and construction of the building was partly financed by a $323,000 gift from the Helen L. DeRoy Foundation. Groundbreaking for the auditorium occurred on August 1, 1962, concurrently with the Prentis building, and the auditorium opened on March 3, 1964. It was built to serve the business school, but has always been used more broadly as a lecture hall for the university as a whole. Originally named after Helen L. DeRoy, it was renamed to University Auditorium in 2025.

Meyer Leon Prentis Meyer Prentis was born as Meyer Leon Prensky in 1886 in Lithuania. At age two, he immigrated with his parents to St. Louis, where he attended grade school, high school and finally Jones Commercial College, where he specialized in accounting, finance and commercial law. After graduation, he worked first for a large mercantile firm, and then starting in 1904 at the Laclede Gas Light Company. His supervisor boss at Laclede, C. A. McGee, left to become the controller for the newly formed General Motors Corporation, and in 1911 recruited Prentis to be General Motors's chief accountant. In 1919, Prentis was elected treasurer of General Motors, a position he held until his retirement in 1951. In 1914, Meyer married Anna Sylvia Steinberg, a secretary at General Motors. The couple had four daughters. Meyer Prentis spent significant time on philanthropy. He was a founder of the United Foundation of Greater Detroit, an early leader of the Jewish Welfare Federation, a trustee and president of the Citizens Research Council of Michigan, a trustee of the Temple Beth El, and a founding member of the Advisory Committee to Wayne State's new business school. Meyer Prentis died in 1970, and his wife Anna died in 1974.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex

In research: Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1964 establishments in Michigan, Auditoriums in the United States, Buildings and structures completed in 1964, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex in simple terms?

Why does Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Prentis Building and University Auditorium Complex.