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Architecture
What’s That? Locust Walk Compass
The granite compass embedded in Locust Walk has become the source of a campus legend.
Nature-inspired designs give rise to stronger, lighter systems
Weitzman’s Masoud Akbarzadeh discusses a recent multidisciplinary study that draws inspiration from dragonfly wings to redesign a Boeing 777 to be lighter, stronger, and more sustainable.
Infrastructure planning on a megaregional scale
A Weitzman School research studio focusing on megaregions brings an interdisciplinary practice to both academia and infrastructure planning.
Laurie Olin: Drawing on nature
The famed landscape architect teaches final-semester Weitzman School of Design students the art of sketching.
Sonja Dümpelmann on designing nature
Sonja Dümpelmann, professor of landscape architecture, explores ‘the reciprocal relationship’ between humans and their environments.
Finding a forgotten architect, Philadelphia’s Minerva Parker Nichols
More than a decade of research by Molly Lester of the Weitzman School of Design is the foundation of a new exhibition at Penn’s Architectural Archives: “Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect” focuses on the nation’s first woman to practice architecture independently.
Weitzman’s celebration of visionary architecture and planning returns to New York
Held at The Shed in New York City, and hosted by Weitzman Dean Fritz Steiner, Penn President Liz Magill joined the celebration with awards and prizes for innovative architecture and planning.
Clearing the air with biomaterials
Senseable Biomaterials for Healthier Habitats, a project led by assistant professor of architecture Laia Mogas-Soldevila, contributed a lattice installation made from architectural biomaterials to the ICA, acting as an antimicrobial air purifier.
A relief wall that’s a window onto architecture’s future
A public library relief wall is a novel approach to architectural design and robotic fabrication from the Weitzman School and the Robotics Lab.
Weitzman’s Daniela Fabricius on architecture, labor, and history
The architectural theorist and historian is teaching a class titled Architecture and Labor while working on two books, including “The Ethics of Calculation: Architecture and Rationalism in Postwar Germany.”
In the News
Emergency stabilization work finally begins at the historic Henry Ossawa Tanner House
The Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights at the Weitzman School of Design has partnered with the Friends of the Tanner House to stabilize the historic building in North Philadelphia.
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Dragonfly wings used to design lighter, stronger and ‘greener’ Boeing 777 wings
Masoud Akbarzadeh of the Weitzman School of Design and Weitzman alum Hao Zheng are studying dragonfly wings to redesign the wings of a Boeing 777.
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Penn moves forward with performing arts center designed by Steven Holl Architects
President Liz Magill comments on the new Student Performing Arts Center that will maximize visibility of creative life on campus.
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‘We deserve much better’: Critics oppose Philly’s plan for evaluating Sixers arena proposal
At a Philadelphia City Hall panel, Domenic Vitiello of the Weitzman School of Design decried the level of seriousness for impact studies requested by the city to evaluate the impact of a Sixers arena in Chinatown.
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A Progressive-era architect gets her due
An exhibition at the Fisher Fine Arts Library by alumna Molly Lester and William Whitaker of the Weitzman School of Design celebrates Minerva Parker Nichols, the first American woman to practice architecture independently.
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Penn exhibition surfaces the story of Minerva Parker Nichols, the first American woman to have an independent architecture practice
A profile highlights an exhibition at the Architectural Archives of the Weitzman School of Design about Minerva Parker Nichols, the first American woman to practice architecture independently.
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