Assistant professor of historic preservation Brian Whetstone.
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Preserving the past
Brian Whetstone, assistant professor of historic preservation at the Weitzman School, explores the intersections between housing and labor equity at museums, historic sites, and preservation organizations.
As the Weitzman School of Design prepared to open its first new building in more than 50 years, members of the design, preservation, and construction teams were highlighted in a series of conversations about the making of Stuart Weitzman Hall.
“You’re seeing a dramatic improvement in housing stability outcomes,” says Vincent Reina, pictured with Sara Jaffee.
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Why rental support works
Cash assistance drastically reduces tenants’ likelihood of eviction and homelessness, according to an ongoing study of the PHLHousing+ program from Weitzman’s Vincent Reina and Arts & Sciences’ Sara Jaffee.
A new paradigm for cooling on New York’s Governors Island
The KlimaKover team includes architects, researchers, and builders from Penn, Henning Larsen, AIL Research, SKANSKA who are addressing urban cooling by adapting a radiant cooling system to an architectural-scale application that uses far less energy than traditional AC.
The global threat of salt contamination to water supplies
Research from Weitzman’s Allison Lassiter and an international team of researchers highlights how a combination of climate change impacts and localized human activities are intensifying the increase in salt in vital freshwater sources.
Exterior view of “(Ex)Urban Futures of the Recent Past” at Galleria Thomas Schultz in Berlin.
(Image: Courtesy of Weitzman News)
Exhibition as conversation
For three faculty members in the Department of Fine Arts, curating exhibitions offers the opportunity to explore relationships between works of art, art and politics, history, and the environment.
In a course led by 2024-25 McHarg Fellow Leah Kahler, students explored the movement of plants across cultures and climates, as well as the relationships between recreational and productive landscapes.
Leslie Richards, professor of practice in the Weitzman School.
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Professor of practice Leslie Richards on innovative transit and city planning
Once described as a “battleship turner” by Philadelphia Magazine, Weitzman professor of practice Leslie Richards served as secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) and subsequently led the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), where she oversaw a $2 billion budget and a network that connects over five million residents in Greater Philadelphia. Having earned a master of regional planning degree from Penn in 1993, she was the first planner and
Robert Gerard Pietrusko collaborated on the installation ”A Satellite Symphony,” which explores how satellites frame how we understand the Earth itself; the viewing structure is constructed from trees from the Veneto region downed by storms.
(Image: Gaia Cambiaggi / Studio Campo)
At the Venice Biennale, a convergence of innovations in materials, structures, and landscapes
Several Weitzman School of Design faculty and students will exhibit at the Venice Biennale’s 19th International Architecture Exhibition.
For dual architecture degree candidate Kelvin Vu, design begins with the body
Master of architecture and master of landscape architecture candidate Kelvin Vu, who was a professional dancer before coming to Weitzman, says “dance and landscape design are about change, flux, and dynamism.”
