Section B1: Topography and arrangement of the site
Ground breaking for the official commencement of building started on 18th September 1912. It was designed by William Carbys Zimmerman, an Illinois state architect in a location which was considered to house the Cadet military training. The building is located at 505 E Ave, Champaign, IL, and Universal Transverse Mercator Zone with coordinates 394989.32 UTM Eastings, 4440109.61 UTM Northings, 40.1047 latitude and -88.232 longitude.
The topography of the site shows an elevation of 743.6 feet above average sea level or 226.7 meters. The major entrance of the building is located at Gregory Drive. Other entries include the West entries which are found on Fourth Street and East entries on the sixth street and both of which are automatic doors. University of Illinois located at the Urbana-Champaign school of labor and employment relations is situated to the northern side, to the east is the University of Illinois Archives, to the south is George Huff Hall and the Gregory Towers which is the students apartments is located on the western site.
Section B2: Landscaping
The old Armory was located at the Springfield Street to make it more accessible to the south Quad. The location which the building was supposed to be built was rejected because of the protests by the College of Agriculture claiming that it would interfere with their permanent plots used for experiments. The plan that positioned the Armory on the axis of the 5th street and is the final location for the new Armory was created on 2nd February 1912 by C.H Blackall.
The Armory has a very unique feature which distinguishes it from other buildings; it has a large and a very long span structure having no central support. The ceiling is 98 feet tall, suspended over a floor space approximately 80,000 square feet in its area and is supported by three arches each weighing 36 tons. One hundred and seventy three threes were planted on 20th April 1920 around the...