Design | Penn Today

Philadelphia skyline with view of the Schuylkill River

New fellowship offers undergrads unfiltered, frank access to city leaders

Through the program, offered by the Penn Institute for Urban Research, 14 students will meet with a former Philadelphia mayor, Philly’s current director of planning and development, and more.

Fort Union adobe ruins with blue sky in distance

Monitoring heritage sites with drones and remote sensors

The Center for Architectural Conservation has been observing adobe ruins for three years as a harbinger for climate change. Any damage that the changing climate will do to exposed structures, it will do it to adobe first.

This startup wants to revolutionize the future of biofabrication

Before the fall of 2012, Orkan Telhan and Karen Hogan didn’t even know each other. Fast forward six years, and the Penn duo has created budding startup Biorealize, with not one—but two—transformative products.

philly neighborhood with downtown skyline

A plan to balance growth, quality housing, poverty, and construction for an entire city

PennDesign’s Vincent Reina helped Philadelphia complete its first comprehensive housing plan.

A ‘magic moment’ for PennDesign

The School of Design kicked off its Lead by Design campaign with an awards and fundraising gala in New York City.

Truck traffic is clogging Center City streets. What’s Philly going to do about it?

The School of Design’s Erick Guerra discussed the issue of delivery trucks blocking major streets in Philadelphia. “One of the big first steps is closely analyzing and understanding the problem,” he said. “I’m not sure that’s quite been done yet.”

Structures of the future

The Polyhedral Structures Laboratory, a research group based out of PennDesign, is showcasing an exhibit at the Pennovation Center that teases their work on designs with wide-reaching implications for construction.

PennDesign studios tackle disaster recovery planning in Puerto Rico

To begin planning hurricane disaster recovery for Puerto Rico, PennDesign faculty members recognize that the disaster began unfolding long before hurricanes Irma and Maria made landfall.

A Philly-Pittsburgh Hyperloop? State House resolution calls for feasibility study

Megan Ryerson of the School of Design discussed the feasibility and wisdom of investing in Hyperloop lines between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. “… It could really change the distribution of economic activities across cities that, right now, we think of as so distant,” said Ryerson.

Can this South Philly congregation beat the church demolition trend?

Frank Matero and Aaron Wunsch from the School of Design were cited for their efforts to support the conservation of South Philly’s 19th Street Baptist Church. The professors, along with a team of students, have researched the building, developed a guide for its restoration, and secured emergency repair grants.

Filters