Walking Down and Around
Scaife Hall is often called the "Potato Chip" because of its disc-like roof. It contains the adminsitrative offices of the Carnegie Institute of Technology and Mellon College of Science, as well as the Department of Mechanical Engineering. On the roof is an observatory containing the telescope used by the Astronomy Club.
Now we can either head back up the stairs to "the Mall," or we can walk along Frew Street to Porter Hall. Frew Street might not be a happening place during your visit, but during Spring Carnival, it is home to all the action of Carnegie Mellon's super-paced soap box derby known as Buggy. Students spend all year preparing these small torpedo-shaped buggies that fit a tiny driver inside. A team of five "pushers" race the buggies around the park to the finish line at the top of Frew Street.
Whether you chose the Frew Street or the reverse route, to your side you'll see Porter Hall. It's the oldest building on campus, completed in 1906. Its long sloping hallway permitted easy transfer of heavy machinery to and from laboratories and workshops. Porter Hall houses the Department of Civil Engineering, the Department of Social and Decision Sciences and parts of the Electrical and Computer Engineering, Design and History departments.
Just ahead, connected to Porter Hall, is Baker Hall, home of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Included are the departments of Economics, English, History, Philosophy, Psychology, Statistics and Modern Languages. It also contains the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. It was one of the original buildings designed by Henry Hornbostel for Carnegie Tech. Legend has it that the building was designed with a sloped hallway, so that if the school wasn't a success-- the building could be converted into a factory with a gravity-operated assembly line.
Looking for luck? Inside Baker Hall you can see a bas-relief sculpture of Carnegie Mellon's first president, Arthur A. Hamerschlag. For years students have rubbed his nose before exams for good luck.
Straight ahead from Baker Hall is Hunt Library. Let's go!