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Louisa Shepard
News Officer
lshepard@upenn.edu
Design
A conversation about ‘Akon City’ and speculative urbanization
A conversation about ‘Akon City’ and speculative urbanization
Christopher Marcinkoski of the Weitzman School of Design unpacks—through the lens of speculative urbanization—the self-described ‘futuristic’ city to be built in Senegal, led by musician and philanthropist Akon.
Architecture’s William Braham on energy, carbon, and buildings for the future
Architecture’s William Braham on energy, carbon, and buildings for the future
For Climate Week 2020, The Weitzman School speaks with Braham about Penn’s Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, and what he’s learned about the build environment and its carbon footprint over time.
Weitzman team takes on preservation work at Lincoln Memorial
Weitzman team takes on preservation work at Lincoln Memorial
PennPraxis is continuing its partnership with the National Park Service on a cultural inventory and landscape project at the Lincoln Memorial, its most high-profile project to date.
First-of-its-kind virtual summer design studio for high school students
First-of-its-kind virtual summer design studio for high school students
In a unique partnership, Penn Praxis Design fellows led Fresh Air Everywhere, an intensive seven-week program providing teens with an introduction to design and architecture.
Maps, pandemics, and reckoning with history
Maps, pandemics, and reckoning with history
Geospatial data has long been an important tool for scientists and scholars, but now, as society grapples with both coronavirus and a history of systemic racism, can maps help chart a path toward a brighter future?
Expressions of color, comfort, and creativity in the fight against COVID-19
With many summer internships disrupted by the pandemic, the Architecture Department at Penn partnered with Surface magazine to create the Summer School at Penn, a month-long virtual lecture series and design competition.
Offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time
Offsetting carbon emissions, one ton at a time
Carbon offsets are a small but meaningful market in its mission to contribute to greenhouse gas reducing industries and practices in order to compensate for emissions made elsewhere.
Design travels to South Carolina to plan more protective urban coastlines
Design travels to South Carolina to plan more protective urban coastlines
A Weitzman School team is working with the city of Charleston on an urban seawall plan that combines natural elements with structural systems that respond to the local conditions of the city’s shoreline.
Understanding infrastructure
Understanding infrastructure
In the second episode of Penn Today’s “Understand This ...” podcast series, emphasizing interdisciplinary perspectives, a Wharton and Weitzman School discuss the past, present, and future of infrastructure.
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.
Media Contact
In the News
PBS NewsHour
Gehry-designed Eisenhower Memorial unveiled after 20 years—during a fraught moment
David Eisenhower of the Annenberg School for Communication spoke about a new memorial to his grandfather, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. “I think memorialization is a process that is renewed,” he said. “So, when you dedicate the memorial, I think that you are investing or gambling, in a sense, on the future, that the message that a memorial conveys will have a kind of timeless quality to it.”
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The New Yorker
The new monuments that America needs
Paul Farber and Ken Lum of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and Philadelphia’s Monument Lab spoke about the dismantling of problematic statues and the process of democratically designing new ones. People have been taught to interpret statues “as unitary and their message as unified, rooted in consensus, as opposed to rooted in a subjective decision that is only a reflection of a segment of the community that had power,” said Lum.
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Vice
How to put up monuments that truly recon with American History
Paul Farber of the Stuart Weitzman School of Design and Center for Public Art and Space visiting scholar Sue Mobley spoke about President Trump’s proposed National Garden of American Heroes and proposed a new democratic process for creating monuments. “History doesn’t fit well in statues,” said Mobley. “Movements don’t fit well in summaries; they’re ongoing.”
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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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