Design | Penn Today

piles of soiled clothing and sheets on church pews and floor

Twenty-five years after the Rwandan genocide, memorials remember the 800,000 who died

Penn historic preservation professor Randall Mason has been working with the country’s government since 2016 to protect and conserve such monuments.

A view looking up into a forest of trees, with light streaming through.

The Green New Deal: What it says, what it doesn’t say, and how close we are to adopting it

Mark Alan Hughes, director of the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, discusses the basics of this energy-mobilization proposal.

Sculptural towers made of sticks with trees in background

Now showing: The Morris Arboretum’s new spiraling Stickwork sculpture

Now on display at the Morris Arboretum is a new interactive sculpture crafted by artist Patrick Dougherty—made from hundreds of pieces of willow.

Chinatown landmark spared the wrecking ball, for now

The Weitzman School of Design’s Fon Wang spoke about the importance of Philadelphia’s Chinese Cultural and Community Center. “It has a strong social history, and it’s important to keep this building,” said Wang. “I think the reaction from the potential demo shows that Chinatown is a strong community.”

A vacant lot between rowhouses in Philadelphia

Wading into Philly’s vacant land morass

Four students in the Weitzman School’s Department of City and Regional Planning are working to find suitable properties to rehabilitate with the Women’s Community Revitalization Project and the City of Philadelphia Department of Planning and Development.

two scooters parked next to a bike rack with bikes parked on a sidewalk

Public scooters may soon zip through Philadelphia

The School of Design’s Megan Ryerson assisted with the city’s debate over the scooter as a safe and viable transportation alternative, as Pennsylvania assesses a bill to legalize electric scooters on public streets.

U of Pennsylvania to rename design school for Stuart Weitzman

Alumnus Stuart Weitzman and his wife Jane were highlighted for their contributions to the School of Design. The gift, commemorated by the school’s new name, will go toward financial aid and academic programming as well as a redesign of the School’s central plaza.

booklet questionnaire about a home's history

PennPraxis launches toolkit for neighborhood preservation

In the past decade, Philadelphia’s building boom has been accompanied by a string of demolitions touching almost every corner of the city, and resulting in the loss of everything from iconic churches to vernacular row houses. But even as a growing number of Philadelphians lament these losses, advocates for historic preservation have sometimes struggled to make a case for keeping Philadelphia’s built fabric intact.

Designing with nature, now

Thanks in large part to the foundation Ian McHarg built, the Stuart Weitzman School of Design Landscape Architecture Department has led the field for decades. Here’s how it’s staying relevant as the importance for the profession—one that is central to solving some of the world’s greatest challenges—grows.

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