Design | Penn Today

In lockdown, a neighborhood opens up

Francesca Russello Ammon of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about how communities have become closer during the pandemic. “The scale of life has changed,” she said. “Your world has shrunk. The neighborhood and the block become really important.”

‘Expanding what it means to be a class’

Allison Lassiter, Randall Mason, Michael Luegering, Joshua Mosley, Richard Farley, and Michael Henry had to work quickly and creatively to shift their classes from a hands-on learning experience to a virtual one.

Brooklyn Bridge, star of the city: Here’s a tour

Marion Weiss of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and her partner spoke about the Brooklyn Bridge and the neighborhoods surrounding it.

The best trees to reduce air pollution

Stephanie Carlisle of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design spoke about high hopes for the use of urban trees to mitigate air pollution. “Some designers have a tendency to think in terms of objects rather than a complex ecological system,” she said. “But without a holistic understanding of urban ecosystems, the risk is to do more harm than good.”

A professor and two children eating from bowls at a kitchen counter with a laptop computer open in front of them.

Dinner and a movie with Weitzman School’s Megan Ryerson

Striving to keep her students engaged, Megan Ryerson of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design invites them to virtually join in her family’s activities, including dinner discussions and movie nights with transportation-themed films.

Giant concrete umbrellas could protect the lucky ones

Daniel Aldana Cohen of the School of Arts and Sciences expressed skepticism about a proposed design for adaptable seawalls on beaches. “A lot of new developments that had a basically a harder infrastructure quality ended up splashing water onto adjacent places and flooding them more,” he said. “So with this project, if you imagine this as a defense of one beach, even if it’s successful, it’s going to probably cause more flooding...next door.”

‘If you don’t have to ride, please don’t’: SEPTA, PATCO further reduce service

Meg Ryerson of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design commented on the continued operation of public transit systems during the pandemic. “They’re not private companies out to make money,” she said. “They operate because they’re here to provide mobility in regions. That’s really incredible, to think that their mission is to be there for you during disaster times, and there for you in the best of times, and everything in between.”

How Philly’s neighborhoods can help us understand pandemics

David Barnes of the School of Arts and Sciences, Eugenie Birch of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and Susan Wachter of the Wharton School weighed in on how Philadelphia has historically handled epidemics, how these approaches have shaped the city over time, and what can be done now to manage COVID-19.

a brick building with white detailing and in front is a green field with a statue surrounded by yellow flowers

Conserving the nation’s first chartered hospital

The Stuart Weitzman School of Design’s PennPraxis and the Center for Architectural Conservation will examine, assess, and prioritize the conservation of the buildings, grounds, and collections of the Pennsylvania Hospital.

group in front of screen with light projected on it

Sharon Hayes on performance art

Having come of age in New York City during the AIDS crisis, artist Sharon Hayes has always made work connected to political movements. She blends performance with installation and video to create large-scale works that explore the relationship between “the private and the public; the personal and the political.”

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