Adapt, guide, design: Ted Haug, treasured by colleagues and beloved by coworkers, celebrates four decades of setting the pace at Legat Architects.
When Ted Haug, known for his strong sketching abilities, started his final semester of architectural graduate school at the University of Illinois, he could barely draw stick figures. Then he took an independent sketch class with the head of the art department. Haug’s sketching saw a huge improvement within three weeks. In the decades since then, he has applied his artistic skills to everything from building concepts and details to travel sketches and pastel paintings.
Haug’s ability to quickly adapt and learn new skills has propelled a career that culminates in 40 years at Legat Architects on December 5, 2023.
Many of Haug’s associates know about his penchant for intense fitness regimes, sweaters (even in summer), classic rock, homemade bread, and biographies. But what takes the top spot in Haug’s allegiances is design.
“Nothing’s more rewarding than approaching a design problem and coming up with something really good,” he said. During weekends, he’s “in seventh heaven” when he’s tackling design challenges without the stresses of the work week.
Sketch of a train station in Helsinki, Finland done by Ted Haug on September 16, 1982.
Haug’s portfolio, spanning hundreds of projects, ranges from small renovations to new campuses.
“Ted will never sacrifice design,” said coworker Monique Taylor. “If there is a budget constraint, he’ll find a way to make it work.”
Ted Haug designed the Interprofessional Education Center (left) and Centennial Learning Center (right) at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago, Illinois.
Rosalind Franklin University, for instance, challenged Haug to design two new cost-effective facilities at its North Chicago campus. The Interprofessional Education Center and College of Pharmacy addition features study carrels that cantilever out of the north wall and illuminate at night. The Centennial Center’s DNA sequencing-inspired façade, carpeting, walls, and paving pay tribute to Dr. Rosalind Franklin’s role in the discovery of DNA’s structure.
Clients also appreciate Haug for his candor. “When I think of Ted, I think of hearing the word ‘frankly’ at least once a meeting,” said Waukegan Park District Executive Director Jay Lerner. “The most impressive project I worked with him on was renovating an old bank building into an amazing administrative building, but there are many more.”
“Ted has the ability to assess matters and provide guidance quickly,” added longtime coworker Jeffrey Sronkoski (retired in 2022 after 44 years with Legat). “He is also extremely compassionate and genuinely cares about the people with whom he works, always having their backs.”
A Haug-designed renovation transformed a bank into Waukegan Park District’s main administration building. The public lobby pictured here has a stationary swing set, green carpet resembling grass, and brown carpet suggesting walking paths.
Swiss Foundation, Rockford Structure
In the early 1950s, Haug’s newlywed parents emigrated from Switzerland to the U.S. with hopes of finding work and staying for a year. They never left. After briefly working in Wisconsin (where Haug was born), his mechanical engineer father landed a job designing gear cutters for Barber-Colman Company, a textile and milling machinery manufacturer in Rockford, Illinois.
The family then moved into the Rockford home where Haug would grow up. Haug’s father, who would eventually invent a time- and money-saving “wafer cutter” for gears, was also a “frustrated architect” who designed the home and was a key reason Haug knew at age 12 he wanted to be an architect.
Haug’s mother, who grew up on a Swiss farm, carried over some of the culinary traditions from the old country. They ranged from Linzer torte (an Austrian pastry considered to be the oldest cake in the world) to the raw beef the family had on fresh bread or crackers once a week. “The neighbors thought, ‘Aren’t you a little afraid of salmonella or worms?’” said Haug.
Haug was an unexceptional student until he turned 13 and his father “got into my thick head and said, ‘If you want to go to college, you better get better.’” Haug’s grades took a huge upswing.
At that same time, Haug began his first summer working in neighboring Loves Park at Woodward Governor (now Woodward), an organization that develops control systems for engines and equipment. He started solely doing landscape work on the organization’s manicured gardens and over the next six summers, advanced to working on machines in the shop. The organization channeled half of Haug’s earnings to a college savings account … a strategy that would prove useful to him.
In 1980, Haug achieved the Bronze Tablet, the University of Illinois’ highest academic honor.
The Path to the Bronze Tablet
Motivated by his math skills, Haug enrolled at the University of Illinois with expectations of majoring in architectural engineering with a focus on structures. He took and aced advanced math classes as electives. Then he attended his first design studio during his senior year of undergraduate school. A critic told Haug he was wasting his talent by going into structures. Haug soon pivoted to the design track.
Although architecture students are well-known for all-nighters, the latest Haug stayed up during his college days was 1 a.m., even when his thesis partner once kept awake for two days straight.
“My mantra was, if you plan right, you’ll finish on time. I knew that if didn’t finish, nobody else would finish,” said Haug.
Haug’s performance was so strong during his first two years that the university awarded him a full academic scholarship for the remainder of his education including his second two years of undergraduate studies and two years of graduate school. This turned out to be providential for Haug — his father offered to pay for his first two years, then he’d be on his own.
When Haug finished his undergraduate studies in 1980, the university inscribed his name on a Bronze Tablet now hanging in the Main Library. The annual tradition honors the university’s highest-performing students. Two years later, Haug earned his Master of Architecture.
Sketches done by Haug during his six-month tour of Western Europe after graduate school. A few months before he did these sketches, he could barely draw a stick figure.
European Respite
Haug used his Woodward Governor summer earnings (saved because of his scholarship) to undertake a six-month tour of Western Europe. There he relied on his newly acquired sketching skills to draw the buildings he encountered.
“The way you really experience a building is to draw it,” said Haug. “It allows you to concentrate on the details instead of snapping a picture and walking away.”
A Swiss firm hired Haug for his strong graphic abilities. He drafted by hand exclusively for design competitions that led to commissions. After a year of this, Haug returned to the States to start his job search.
The Waukegan City Yard facility, Haug’s first major project at Legat.
Trying Times and Tight Deadlines: The Early Years at Legat
In 1983, the U.S. was creeping out of a severe economic recession. Despite graduating at the top of his class, Haug could not find a job. Finally, a friend landed him an interview for drafting at Rockford-based Beling Engineering Consultants. The interviewer took one look at Haug’s portfolio and told him it was too good for an engineering job. Instead, he put Haug in touch with an eight-person, 19-year-old firm doing a great deal of work in northeastern Illinois: Legat Architects.
Often, projects would come across his desk on a Friday afternoon. The deadline was Monday.
Haug walked through the doors of Legat’s Waukegan office, a former church converted into a studio, as an employee for the first time on December 5, 1983. He soon started his first major project: the 126,000-square-foot, $5 million Waukegan City Yards campus. Firm leaders entrusted the young architect to design the wall system and foundations. Haug’s father even used his lathe to help build a wood model for the campus’s salt storage building.
“There were many design decisions required,” said project lead Jeffrey Sronkoski. “Ted jumped right in and went to work providing the design expertise with which we have become all too familiar over the years.”
Haug led architectural and structural design of Fremont Elementary School (Mundelein, Illinois), completed 1998.
As the years progressed, Ted earned a reputation for designing quickly, cost effectively, and creatively. Often, projects would come across his desk on a Friday afternoon. The deadline was Monday.
Haug showed his adaptability by designing more facility types: an animal shelter, corporate offices, schools, governmental facilities, hospitals, and many others. For one stretch, he designed car dealerships “until they were come out of my ears.”
During the first half of his career, Haug would often lead both architectural design and structural engineering. One example is Fremont Elementary School, which features masonry walls and a curved entry tower to welcome students and community members.
Gurnee School District’s River Trail School (formerly O’Plaine Elementary School), designed by Haug in the Prairie style, became a prototype facility built in five other Chicago-area locations to save school districts time and money.
A Sixfold Success
Little is more fulfilling to an architect than seeing a facility that they designed get built. In the case of O’Plaine Elementary School (now River Trail School) designed by Haug, he saw it constructed not once but six times. The original facility, built for Gurnee School District 56, received a 1992 Award of Distinction, the highest honor in the Illinois Association of School Boards’ annual Exhibition of Educational Environments competition.
“I thought other districts would look at that project and want to hire Legat to design their schools,” said Haug. “They not only wanted to hire us, but they also wanted that building.”
The facility was built in five other locations throughout Chicagoland. The prototype approach allowed district clients to erect new schools faster and at a reduced cost.
Haug relied on the refined details and monumentality of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style for the school’s design. “A lot of designers who draw from the Prairie School end up distorting the style,” he said. “Maybe a layman can’t tell the difference. But I can.”
Two Miles Is Too Short
During his first year at Legat, Haug went to a fitness center with coworker Jeffrey Sronkoski. The employee asked Sronkoski if he and “his son” wanted extra towels. There was a three-year difference between the two.
Many people are shocked when they discover that Haug, a 5-foot-6-inch, 120-pound fitness enthusiast, weighed 20 pounds more than he does now when he was in elementary school.
As a student at Rockford’s Guilford High School, Haug started running to lose weight so he could try out for wrestling; instead, he fell in love with running. He joined cross country rather than track because “two miles is too short for me.”
Haug indulged his love of running and fitness throughout his career. On weekends during his heyday, he would get up and run two and a half miles to Waukegan High School’s Weiss Field, do interval training (alternating laps between running and jogging) for three miles, and run back home for a total of eight miles. He’d then hop on his bike and pedal 25 miles to Racine — the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Wingspread residence was a favorite stop — and back. Haug would wrap up his routine by going to the YMCA for a two-mile swim. He also ran three marathons, the fastest one just 20 seconds over three hours.
For the last 20 years, Haug has hiked and swum at Devil’s Lake State Park in Wisconsin while attending his family’s annual reunion.
Today, Haug continues to prioritize fitness. He awakens at 3 a.m., takes an hour-long walk (or rides a bike or elliptical), and then swims for a mile and a half before arriving at work at 6 a.m. Most days, he’s the first one in the studio, and he’s often the last to leave.
“I’ve never seen or heard of anybody with this kind of drive,” said coworker Derek Dunn.
Moreover, Haug has never been daunted by the Midwest’s extreme weather. One of his favorite lines is, “There’s no such thing as bad weather … only bad clothing.”
Rubber Squirrels, Ted Heads, and Phone Calls
When Haug arrived at his desk one morning, he looked up to discover a rubber squirrel hanging by a string. It had been outfitted with a red cape and a mask. He turned on his computer. Superman theme music (with “super squirrel” dubbed in) played and a small fan blew the cape.
This anecdote exemplifies the camaraderie and creative humor Haug shares with coworkers. And it wasn’t the first time the rubber squirrel had made an appearance.
Employees heard Haug complaining about the squirrels running up and down the home that he designed. Coworker Scot Parker purchased a rubber squirrel that he and others periodically positioned around Haug’s desk. One time, they cut a hole in a piece of foam core and replaced a ceiling tile above Haug’s desk. He was surprised when he looked up and saw the rubber squirrel peering down at him.
As a firmwide April Fools’ Day joke, Haug claimed he had been locked in his studio’s vault overnight.
Forty “Ted heads” that had been printed and staked into his yard greeted Haug when he arrived home on his 40th birthday. The rubber squirrel in the mailbox revealed who the culprits were.
Another time, fellow employees tested Haug’s reputation for answering the phone no matter what — they called when he was in a deep conversation with other firm leaders. Sure enough, Haug picked up, confirming the adage, “If you ever need to get a hold of Ted, just give him a call.”
Haug played a key role in the design of College of Lake County’s Lakeshore Campus Student Center completed in January 2023. Aerial photo credit: DroNation Video Services
More Bang for the Buck
As a designer, Haug has always respected that building owners have limited resources. He understands that many communities cannot afford the “absolutely outlandish” designs celebrated in popular architecture magazines.
“I want what we design as a firm and what I design to have a lot of value,” said Haug. “Our clients get not only the functionality but also the aesthetics, even if it’s in a community with socioeconomic struggles. There’s a lot of bang for the buck.”
One of his most recent projects, College of Lake County’s (CLC) Lakeshore Campus Student Center in Waukegan, Illinois, is a clean, contemporary design with “million-dollar views” of Lake Michigan. The facility, perched on a hill in the underprivileged community, announces the college’s emphasis on first-class education to everyone from expressway drivers to commuters on Metra trains. And since the center is only a few blocks from Haug’s home, he enjoys walking by it on Saturday mornings.
Ted will never sacrifice design. If there is a budget constraint, he’ll find a way to make it work.
Another of Haug’s strengths is his insistence on sticking with projects from start to finish. “While some design leaders do their thing and walk away, Ted’s in it to win it,” said Legat Director of Operations Zach Wiese.
Haug has never considered himself too good for any project. In just the last five years, his output has ranged from a bathroom renovation completed over a weekend to the CLC project mentioned above and Augustana College’s Peter J. Lindberg, M.D. Center for Health and Human Performance.
Tinley Park’s 80th Avenue Train Station and Augustana College’s Lindberg Center demonstrate Haug’s stylistic range.
Additionally, Haug’s strong command of architectural history enables him to capture a variety of styles. “He adapts the aesthetics to whatever is best for the client and community,” said Wiese. “Even though he’s a strong advocate for contemporary design, he has the humility to go with traditional.”
Though many of Haug’s coworkers have observed his ongoing battles with computers and printers, he remains in rare company — few architects with his level of experience have adjusted to new technologies as well as he has. He can hold his own with the latest modeling tools.
A cost-effective expansion and renovation of Oak Grove School (Green Oaks, Illinois) completed in 1996 revealed Haug’s ability to create design interest despite a tight budget.
Finding Answers Fast
Colleagues consistently praise Haug for his ability to speedily devise design solutions that respect budgets without sacrificing aesthetics.
For nearly 30 years, fellow architect Derek Dunn has sat no more than 20 feet from Haug. “Ted has an incredible talent for seeing design challenges in a different light,” said Dunn. “I can remember struggling for over an hour to figure something out. I brought it over to him. He said, ‘How about this?’ and proposed a brilliant solution. It took seconds.”
Early in his career, Dunn worked with Haug on an addition to and modernization of Oak Grove School in Green Oaks, Illinois. At a time when most school design was uninspiring, Haug, working within a tight budget, created a curved glass element so visitors could tell the school was unique from the outside. Inside, vibrant colors and shapes made the facility much more child friendly.
“Being fresh out of school, I was really impressed. He made the most out of their budget and made the space much more interesting than a plain box,” said Dunn.
Haug and his director of design successor Evan Menk at an Ohio State Park project site.
Adam Quigley, who joined Legat four years ago, witnessed Haug’s skills right away when Haug helped him create a design solution for a complicated stair configuration for a Metra project.
“Ted consistently seems happy to hear from me when I call, and I know that I can always count on him to give good advice whether it’s navigating a client relationship or working out design strategies,” said Quigley. “He’s a model mentor unwaveringly dedicated to the profession and the future of architecture.”
Haug and his nephew work on an art project.
A Mastermind with a Humble Heart
Shortly after Monique Taylor’s young son told Haug that he likes to draw, the boy was thrilled to receive a gift of pastels and a coloring book courtesy of “Mr. Ted.”
Throughout his career, Haug, whom coworker Sylvia Kowalk calls “a mastermind with a humble heart,” has used his design talents to bring a smile to others, whether it’s sharing the joy of design with a child, giving tips to a coworker on overcoming a home renovation challenge, or helping financially challenged communities or organizations.
Several years ago, Haug led pro bono design for an expansion to Beacon Place, a community center that delivers programming for underprivileged children and families in Haug’s own city of Waukegan. He is now helping a not-for-profit youth campsite in northern Wisconsin obtain permits for a series of buildings.
“I’d like to think that what I do and what we do at Legat goes beyond architecture,” said Haug. “It’s serving others and making the communities we’re in better.”
Haug’s willingness to help others extends to the everyday work environment, where coworkers “can always approach him, even if he’s had the worst day,” according to Dunn.
Haug donated design services for an expansion that enables Beacon Place to serve more economically disadvantaged families in Waukegan.
“I always tell Ted he’s my security blanket,” added Taylor. “People gravitate toward him, he cares about everyone, and if you need advice or guidance, he’s always there for you.”
Underpinning all of this is Haug’s affable personality. “Ted is a rock star and everyone loves him,” said coworker Maria Osterberg. “I love to put him in front of clients because he is very well-liked, a wonderful listener, and incredibly genuine.”
Legat employees have received a holiday card designed by Haug each year for the past 20 years.
Holiday Cards and Led Zeppelin
Each holiday season over the past two decades, all Legat employees have opened their mailboxes to discover an envelope with their family’s name neatly printed on it. The artwork on the card within the envelope has ranged from pencil sketches and pastel drawings of animals or natural scenes to Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired individually colored patterns and even abstractions of ripped papers folded together. The interior of the card shows nothing but a single name: Ted Haug.
Haug’s annual holiday card, created in the atelier (artist’s studio) in the home he designed for himself, captures his passion for design and reinforces the value he finds in the relationships with his colleagues.
Paintings by Ted Haug, who hired one of the top pastel artists in the U.S. to give him lessons.
And what has enticed Haug to stay at the same firm for 40 years when the median U.S. employee tenure is four years? “The firm recognized my talent and therefore gave me opportunities,” said Haug. “Good people doing good work for good people is the philosophy of the firm, and that’s important to me.”
Tom Hepner, senior preconstruction manager at Russell, is working closely with Haug on an expansion to Moline, Illinois-based Parr Instrument Company. “I have a healthy amount of respect for Ted and the energy he brings to projects,” said Hepner. “He is humble, open-minded, and quick-witted. For an old dog, he has the ability to learn new tricks.”
Derek Dunn recalls working near Haug in Legat’s Waukegan studio before it moved to Gurnee. “The studio would be quiet except for the music we had playing in the background. Whenever a song from Led Zeppelin (Ted’s favorite band) came on, you’d hear him say ‘Classic!’ in his distinctive voice.”
Haug with entry he designed for Legat’s Think Tank design competition.
“Classic” is a fitting descriptor for an individual whose voice has set a standard at Legat Architects and, directly or indirectly, elevated the design of hundreds of Midwestern buildings and the communities they welcome for four decades … and for many more to come.
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