4-30-09
Contacts:
Tom Leslie, Architecture, (515) 294-8460, tleslie@iastate.edu
Heather Sauer, College of Design communications, (515) 294-9289, hsauer@iastate.edu
Anne Kassel, College of Design communications, (515) 294-6881, akassel@iastate.edu

ISU architecture professor receives national fellowship for design research

AMES, Iowa -- Iowa State University architecture professor Tom Leslie has received an American Philosophical Society (APS) Sabbatical Fellowship for his research on Chicago architecture.

Leslie, who will be on a faculty development leave of absence from Iowa State for the spring 2010 semester, will use the APS fellowship over the next two years to help complete his manuscript on the technical history of Chicago skyscrapers.
   
Leslie's study will focus on the evolution of Chicago's city landscape between the Great Fire and the Great Depression. His book, "Crystalline Cages: The Technical Evolution of the Chicago Skyscraper, 1871-1934," will examine the influence Chicago buildings have had on architectural developments over time. The project will look at the processes and methods of building design, including the structural developments and influence of elevators, iron and steel construction, fireproofing, electric lighting and welding.

"Instead of focusing on a stylistic history of Chicago's architecture, I wanted to focus my work on the buildings from a 'ground-up' perspective, with an emphasis on the issues that faced designers on a daily basis," Leslie said.

"Looking directly at the daily struggles and negotiations that produced these buildings will help explain architecture's relationships to larger economic and social contexts. This will allow me to take a different approach from traditional histories of Chicago architecture," he said.

Leslie began his research for this project in 2004. In 2006, he received a National Endowment for the Humanities summer stipend to research the role of plate glass manufacture in commercial architecture during the late 19th century. Earlier this year, he received a fellowship from the ISU Center for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities that will fund research on what he calls the "electric skyscrapers" of the 1920s and 1930s.

He estimates that the draft manuscript is about 60 percent complete. He plans to finish the text and compile illustrations during the APS fellowship period in spring 2010 and 2011, and anticipates publication by 2012.

Leslie is one of only 16 scholars to receive an APS Sabbatical Fellowship from a pool of 168 applicants this year.

Leslie believes his work will not only expand existing scholarship in the field but will also benefit his students.

"This book will get students thinking about the environment, structure and design of buildings," said Leslie. "It will show them Chicago's development through the eyes of the original architects who built these structures with limited tools — proving they now have the capability to build something that much better."

"Iowa State's architecture department is committed to thoughtfully linking history with technology and design," he said. "We have developed an international reputation for taking this integration seriously in our coursework and in our research."

The American Philosophical Society is the oldest learned society in the country and has been influential in American research and intellectual life for more than 250 years. Founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1743, the society's purpose is "promoting useful knowledge." It supports research and discovery through grants and fellowships, publications, lectures, prizes, exhibitions and public education.

For more information about the APS, visit http://www.amphilsoc.org.

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