Fritz Lab celebrates its 100th birthday

This year, Fritz Laboratory, home to the civil and environmental engineering departments, turns 100 years old.

As part of the centennial celebration, several sessions and events took place between last Thursday and last Saturday to unite students, alumni, faculty and staff by participating in events that may impact the future of Fritz Lab.

The reception that took place on Thursday afternoon was a success, said Stephen Pessiki, chair of the department of civil and environmental engineering. During the reception, alumni had the opportunity to catch up before the following events.

On Friday morning, several speakers from the engineering and history departments spoke to about 120 people about John Fritz's impact on Lehigh. "The speakers on Friday morning did a great job helping us look back 100 years and forward 100 years," Pessiki said.

Friday afternoon participants engaged in a design charette program session. Approximately 50 students and alumni got into groups of about five to seven people and were presented with a set of guidelines that they used to redesign Fritz Lab for the future.

The goal was to best utilize the building and create office space for the department chairs and other people whose offices will remain in Fritz Lab, even after some of the department is moved to the STEPS building. The session lasted for four hours, Pessiki said.

Pessiki said he was very pleased with what he saw happening during the charette program. "I think it's going great," he said. "I'm seeing a lot of hand raising and chin scratching, no blank stares. I'm enthused."

"The design charette program exceeded my expectations," Pessiki said.

Students came up with different ideas and models for how Fritz Lab could look in the future, even 100 years from now. These ideas and drafts were displayed on Saturday evening at dinner for everyone to see and observe the different ideas that groups came up with. About 100 people, including 60 alumni, attended the gala, which was the final event of the three-day celebration.

Sara Horsey, '11, a civil engineer and treasurer of American Society of Civil Engineers, said the civil and environmental engineers have to take classes in buildings all over campus and they want some space for themselves. The civil engineering home is supposed to be in Fritz Lab, but there is no space, she said.

Also the lab doors do not lock, so you can't leave experiments set up overnight, she added. The space in Fritz is not adequate for students, said Horsey.

Carolyn Reid, '11, a civil engineer and participant in the charettes program, agreed.

One aspect of the Fritz Lab "renovation" that Horsey and Reid's group focused on was keeping the natural light that is let into Fritz through the windows that surround the building.

The old part of Fritz Lab was built in 1909 by a Lehigh trustee and benefactor, John Fritz, Pessiki said. Fritz was an accomplished engineer, but he never had any formal engineering education, he said.

The student symposium on Saturday consisted of presentations by groups of students about topics relating to their majors, as well as several groups that focused on topics pertinent to clubs and organizations on campus, including Engineers Without Borders and American Society of Civil Engineers.

The gala dinner included a surprise- a John Fritz impersonator attended the dinner and gave a speech that Fritz gave many years ago, which had been modified to relate more to today's world.

"The celebration was the first step in kicking off keeping the alumni involved," Pessiki said.

Pessiki said the future of Fritz Lab looks promising. "From what I can see here, it looks very bright," he said.