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Design

Exhibition as conversation
Exterior view of “(Ex)Urban Futures of the Recent Past” artwork.

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.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

Weitzman team selected for Special Recognition in the Los Angeles Small Lots, Big Impacts Design Competition

Weitzman team selected for Special Recognition in the Los Angeles Small Lots, Big Impacts Design Competition

FORMA (led by associate professor of practice Daniel Markiewicz and Miroslava Brooks) and Studio Zimm (led by Weitzman alum Michael Zimmerman) teamed up to design a project for the Los Angeles Small Lots, Big Impacts design competition, and received Special Recognition for their work on both sites within the Gentle Density category.

Native plants from afar
A diagram of areas where marigolds are native plants.

Image: Courtesy of Weitzman News

Native plants from afar

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.

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

Professor of practice Leslie Richards on innovative transit and city planning
Leslie Richards.

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

From the Weitzman School of Design

2 min. read

At the Venice Biennale, a convergence of innovations in materials, structures, and landscapes
Robert Gerard Pietrusko’a installation ”A Satellite Symphony.”

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.

From the Weitzman School of Design

3 min. read

Empowering high school youth through immersive art mentorship
Fourth-years Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Nicholas Roney were awarded a 2025 President's Engagement Prize to pursue their PIXEL project. The pair will collaborate to bring art mentorship, creative skill-building, and industry networking opportunities to under-resourced high school students in the greater Philadelphia area.

Fourth-year students Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Nicholas Roney were awarded a 2025 President’s Engagement Prize to pursue their PIXEL project. The pair will collaborate to bring art mentorship, creative skill-building, and industry networking opportunities to under-resourced high school students in the greater Philadelphia area.

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Empowering high school youth through immersive art mentorship

Penn fourth-years Ejun Mary Hong and Jack Nicholas Roney will use a President’s Engagement Prize to expand their existing initiative dedicated to connecting under-resourced high school students in Philadelphia with art mentorship, creative skill-building, and industry networking opportunities.

6 min. read

Concrete panels as teaching tools, materials testing, and outdoor sculptures
Richard Garber standing outside in front of concrete panel

Architect Richard Garber created and teaches the graduate course Matter Making and Testing: Designing with Next Generation Precast Concrete.

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Concrete panels as teaching tools, materials testing, and outdoor sculptures

On view outside the Weitzman School of Design are three freestanding concrete panels designed and made by students in a unique graduate seminar that partners with a local concrete-fabrication plant

5 min. read

Sean Burkholder and Eva Del Soldato awarded the 2025-26 Rome Prize
headshots of Sean Burkholder and Eva Del Soldato

Penn faculty members Sean Burkholder of the Weitzman School of Design and Eva Del Soldato of the School of Arts & Sciences are among 35 recipients of the 2025-26 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome.

(Images: Courtesy of Sean Burkholder and Eva Del Soldato)

Sean Burkholder and Eva Del Soldato awarded the 2025-26 Rome Prize

Sean Burkholder of the Weitzman School of Design and Eva Del Soldato of the School of Arts & Sciences are among 35 recipients of the 2025-26 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome to support innovative fellows in the arts, humanities, and sciences.

3 min. read