astronomy

Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall rather than just read about it. In short: Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, 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 of Forbes Field and contains several artifacts, including the former stadium's home plate and one of two surviving Langley Aerodromes. Posvar Hall houses Pitt's School of Education, College of General Studies, School of Public and International Affairs, University Center for International Studies, and the Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences's social sciences departments.

Construction

Posvar Hall was designed by a consortium of architects, including Louis Valentour of Johnstone Newcomer & Valentour, who worked under the watch of university consultant Max Abramowitz. Construction began in 1975 and was completed in 1978 with the dedication occurring on October 19, 1978. The building sits on the former site of Forbes Field baseball stadium and beside the university's Hillman Library on the corner of Schenley Drive and Roberto Clemente Drive, with Bouquet Street running along its west side. Enclosed passageways connect Posvar Hall to David Lawrence Hall, the Barco Law Building, and the Litchfield Towers. Posvar Hall was designed in the Brutalist style and is constructed with concrete with a limestone exterior. Its height was limited to five stories so it would not compete with The Carnegie Institute directly across Schenley Plaza. Construction costs exceeded $38 million (equivalent to $153.1 million in 2024). Its floor space slightly exceeds that of the Cathedral 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 including Virgil Cantini's mural Enlightenment and Joy and one of Samuel Pierpont Langley's aerodromes. Escalators transport individuals between floors. Originally named Forbes Quadrangle, it was renamed on October 21, 1999, by the university's board of trustees in honor of Wesley W. Posvar (1925–2001), the 15th chancellor of the university.

Forbes Field The building stands on the original site of Forbes Field, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team from 1909–1970 and, at various times, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Homestead Grays, and Pitt'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. The building incorporates many reminders of the famous ballpark—the home plate of Forbes Field remains near its exact spot, protected under plexiglass. 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.

Art

Virgil Cantini's colorful porcelain enamel on steel mural Enlightenment and Joy (1977) is on display on the ground floor. The piece is an example of Cantini's use of circles, representing the Earth, Moon, and Sun, an artistic trend inspired by the Apollo Moon landings. The work was created to honor former University Chancellor Edward Litchfield, who died in a plane crash in 1968. Cantini's 1965 steel rod and multicolored glass sculpture New Horizons, Skyscape is also on display near room 1500. The sculpture was donated to the university by the Joseph Horne Company from its department store in the South Hills Village mall where it had previously been on display. Tony Smith's 1971 20-foot-tall (6.1 m) painted steel sculpture Light Up!, commissioned by Westinghouse and originally displayed in downtown Pittsburgh, can be found outside Posvar Hall, between it and Hillman Library. Donated to and re-installed at Pitt in 1988, it was temporarily loaned to the Museum of Modern Art and displayed in front of the Seagram Building in New York City for a 1988 Tony Smith retrospective.

Aerodrome

One of two surviving Langley Aerodromes, Aerodrome No. 6 dating from 1896, is displayed in the ground floor lobby amid various artworks and sculptures. The Aerodrome was an experimental aircraft commissioned by the United States Army from former Pitt professor and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Samuel 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-driven heavier-than-air flight. The aircraft was restored in part by Pitt 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. The restoration was completed over two years and the plane placed on display in Posvar Hall in 1980.

Gallery

References Alberts, Robert C. (1987). Pitt: The Story of the University of Pittsburgh 1787–1987. University of Pittsburgh Press. ISBN 0-8229-1150-7.

External links Posvar Hall on Pitt's virtual Campus Tour Panoramas

360° panorama of the Posvar Hall ground floor walkway at the Forbes Field home plate 360° panorama at the remnant of Forbes Field's outfield wall close to Posvar Hall Video

ESPN Video: Forbes Field 50 Years Later

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wesley W. Posvar Hall

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall

In research: Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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: Wesley W. Posvar Hall is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Brutalist architecture in Pennsylvania, Buildings and structures completed in 1978, University and college academic buildings in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wesley W. Posvar Hall in simple terms?

Wesley W. Posvar Hall (WWPH), formerly known as Forbes Quadrangle, is a landmark building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.

Why does Wesley W. Posvar Hall 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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall?

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 Wesley W. Posvar Hall.