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Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Design
PennPraxis Design Fellows take on the real world with design solutions
PennPraxis Design Fellows take on the real world with design solutions
PennPraxis has expanded the scope of experience for graduate students since its founding in 2001, and now 80 Design Fellows are involved in ambitious interdisciplinary design projects.
Reflections on public spaces in the age of COVID, protest
Reflections on public spaces in the age of COVID, protest
Ken Lum and Paul Farber of the Weitzman School of Design remark on how the public might perceive public spaces and art differently in the time of COVID-19 and protests.
Design faculty and Art for Philadelphia raise money against police brutality
Design faculty and Art for Philadelphia raise money against police brutality
Weitzman faculty members David Hartt and Sharon Hayes are among a group of Philadelphia-based artists participating in Art for Philadelphia, a fundraising initiative to support those protesting against police brutality.
Cultivating robust civil dialogue during times of unrest
Cultivating robust civil dialogue during times of unrest
Through the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program, Penn students are learning how to reflect on and engage with subjects like the coronavirus pandemic and the criminal justice system.
‘Expanding what it means to be a class’
‘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.
Dinner and a movie with Weitzman School’s Megan Ryerson
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.
Conserving the nation’s first chartered hospital
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.
Sharon Hayes on performance art
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.”
Picturing the future Lehigh Valley
Picturing the future Lehigh Valley
Penn Praxis is a Design Partner with the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, along with a team of Design Fellows, to design a 25-year plan for the region called Future LV for ecological health and quality of life in cities, towns, and undeveloped areas.
Designs for what the future can be
Designs for what the future can be
The Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “Designs for Different Futures” exhibition includes contributions and installations from several Penn faculty and alumni who seek to answer questions about what the not-so-distant future may look like.
Media Contact
In the News
WHYY (Philadelphia)
‘We don’t see the refinery starting’: PES site’s new owner envisions an ‘environmentally conscious’ commercial hub
Mark Allan Hughes of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and Kleinman Center for Energy Policy spoke about new plans for the former Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery complex in Southwest Philadelphia. “Not having a refinery there ends a long environmental justice travesty and puts Philadelphia on the right side of energy history,” he said.
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The New York Times
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.”
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The New York Times
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.
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BBC News
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.”
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Gizmodo
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.”
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WHYY (Philadelphia)
‘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.”
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