Wesley W. Posvar Hall - Construction

Construction

Posvar Hall was designed by a consortium of architects, including Louis Valentour of Johnstone Newcomer & Valentour, who worked under the watch of Max Abramowitz who acted as a consultant to the university for the project. 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 and 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 ($144 million today). 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 its two level garage below the facility.

The central area of the interior space is called the Galaria and contains various artwork including Virgil Cantini's mural Enlightenment and Joy and one of Samuel Pierpont Langley's aeodromes. A cascade of escalators are present to 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.