By: John Silva December 2024
Howard
Oh, what was his name? I think it was Howard. Yes. It was Howard. Howard was a tall, lanky student who recently had transferred to our school. We were in our fourth year at the University of Illinois, Chicago studying architecture. And, the school of architecture was transitioning from a two year feeder school to a five year professional program. It was not a happy transition. Everything was in disarray. A lack of planning and critical thinking was apparent to everyone… especially the students. But, there we were. Chaos everywhere. And, right in the middle… there was Howard!
I don’t know where he found them, but Howard usually had a long broom straw between his teeth and a kind of persistent sleepy look on his face. If you didn’t know Howard, your first and last thought would be rube or hayseed. But, you would be mistaken. He was a deep thinker and a first class problem solver. I can still remember him observing the students bitching about what was trying to be passed off as an architectural education.
He clearly saw that things were not going to get better. So the best thing to do was hunker down, stay below the radar, and get the credit for the class into the school’s records. And lest I forget, his favorite comment was “No use kicking a dead horse.” which he said often. He offered, that no matter what you do, things are not going to change so you’re better off just laying down and taking a nap. Just wait for the mess to bow over and the class to end. Fortunately, the rest of the university was functioning reasonably well compared to the dysfunctional School of Architecture.
Wesinger
Dr. Frederick Weisinger was his full title. He had a Phd. in engineering, but he was OK with Weisinger or Fred. To my way of thinking, Weisinger was the one bright spot in the entire School of Architecture. He taught his students with mechanical precision, but in a practical and useful way. I remember him teaching us easy ways to do shear and moment diagrams and telling stories about when he was in school.
I remember one account about steel wide flange columns for a high rise building which had steel plates welded to their flanges. It was winter and the steel plates were popping off of the columns. Why was this happening? Turns out the steel workers were using the column voids for urinals.
Or, the time he was wiring the stirrups that take the shear stresses to the top and bottom bars in the concrete beams. Unfortunately, he wired the bars to the outside of the stirrups instead putting them inside the stirrups.