Professor Emeritus William Eng, FAIA, 1919-2005
We are saddened to learn that Professor Emeritus William Eng passed away Saturday (January 8, 2005) at Provena Covenant Medical Center, Urbana. Visitation will be held on Wednesday, January 12th, from 6-8 pm and Thursday, January 13th, from 10-11 am. Services will be held Thursday, January 13, at 11 am. Visitation and services will be held at Renner-Wikoff Chapel, 1900 S. Philo Road, Urbana.
William Eng was born in Canton, China, and received his early education in Chicago. During World War II he served as a mapping engineer in the U.S. Army Air Corps of Engineers. He received Bachelor of Science and Master of Architecture degrees at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and later studied with Eliel Saarinen and received a Master of Architecture and Urban Design degree from Cranbrook Academy of Arts.
In 1948 Mr. Eng was awarded the second prize for his final entry in the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Competition. The first stage of competition involved a total of 175 entries submitted from architects associated with engineers, landscape architects, painters, and sculptors throughout the country. Mr. Eng was selected as one of the five designers to participate in the second stage of competition.
The project was to create a $30,000,000 National Park and Monument on the west bank of the Mississippi River, a 40 city-block site at St. Louis, memorializing Thomas Jefferson and his Louisiana Purchase. This project was published in Progressive Architecture (May 1948) and other major architectural magazines.
From 1950 to 1954 he worked in the office of Louis I. Kahn, with major involvement in the Mill Creek Housing Project in Philadelphia, the Yale Art Gallery, and the Philadelphia Psychiatric Hospital Addition. From 1949 to 1950 he also served as a Design Critic at the University of Pennsylvania.
From 1955 to 1960 he worked with Eero Saarinen and Associates in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and was primarily involved with Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, the University of Chicago Women’s Dormitory and Dining Hall, and Concordia Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Also with Saarinen, he worked on the preliminary London Embassy Competition, the Detroit Civic Center Renovation, and the University of Pennsylvania Women’s Dormitory.
In 1960, William Eng joined the architecture faculty at the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1961 and again promoted to Full Professor in 1966. Professor Eng retired in 1989 and received Emeritus of Architecture status September 1, 1989. Professor Eng returned as a visiting professor from 1989-1990. His tenure at the University of Illinois can be characterized by leadership in curriculum development as chairman of the Design Committee and by demand for excellence in the design studio.
At Illinois, he authored or co-authored over 20 major national and international architecture competition entries. Many of these works, including the Red Rock Hill Competition, the Roosevelt Island Housing Competition, the Milwaukee Lakefront Competition, and the University Art Center at Berkeley Competition received national recognition.
A retrospective exhibit of Professor Eng’s work was chosen by the School to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture. Each school in the United States was asked to select an exhibit, lecture or other event as its contribution to the diamond jubilee. The exhibit illustrated “Eng’s considerable design talents” and reflected “the fertile creative mind which, for the last quarter century, has had a major impact upon architectural education at this university,” the School wrote at the time.
In 1990, Professor Eng was elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects. That same year he received the Excellence in Education Award from the Illinois Council of the AIA.
Professor Eng will be greatly missed by the entire School of Architecture community.
The family has requested that memorials be sent to the School of Architecture to support its students and programs. More details are forthcoming.
Additional Information
Professor Emeritus William Eng Contacts
David Chasco, Director
School of Architecture
dchasco@uiuc.edu
office: (217) 333-1331
Leanne Courson, Assoc. Director for Development
School of Architecture
lcourson@uiuc.edu
(217) 244-2586
