Facilities and Real Estate

A scientist kneeling on a lawn checks a well using electronic monitoring equipment

Keeping rain out of the drain

From cisterns beneath Shoemaker Green to the green roof on New College House, special features of campus buildings and landscapes are helping manage stormwater to keep rain from the sewer lines, and scholars are using the infrastructure as a research opportunity.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

A person in a lab pours a bin full of plastic petri dishes into a blue recycling bin.

Green labs group strives to make science more sustainable

With a Green Labs working group, Elicia Preston of the Perelman School of Medicine and the University’s Sustainability Office in Facilities and Real Estate Services are striving to make the pursuit of scientific research a more eco-friendly endeavor.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・

Blue stripe with Determination written on it in stairwell

Using stairwells for wellness

StairWELL, a Penn Sustainability Green Fund project, completed a yearlong pilot project last July that aimed to test how effective a stairwell makeover could be in increasing physical activity and reducing energy costs.

Brandon Baker ・

Mark Kocent

Stewards of the University collection

Planning chief and multiple alumnus Mark Kocent is named University Architect in the Division of Facilities and Real Estate.

Penn Today Staff ・

closeup of granite bench and curbing with text

A walk through history

Jenny Holzer’s landscape installation “125 Years” celebrates its 15th anniversary as an interactive text-based tribute to women’s legacies at Penn.

Tina Rodia ・

Looking down on campus through a variety of colorful treetops, people walk by holding umbrellas

Keeping campus trees—all 6,800 of them—healthy and vibrant

Caring for the trees on Penn’s campus—an official arboretum since last year—is no small undertaking. Staff from Facilities and Real Estate Services and the Morris Arboretum lead the way in ensuring that the University’s trees remain safe, vibrant, diverse, and beautiful.

Katherine Unger Baillie ・



Media Contact


amanda mott

Amanda Mott Director of News and Media
ammott@upenn.edu

In the News


Architectural Record

Clad in terra-cotta fins, UPenn’s expanded Graduate School of Education fits in with its neighbors

The Graduate School of Education has been renovated and expanded to feature additional classroom space, enhanced accessibility, and a distinct architectural identity.

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Fast Company

The housing market’s home insurance shock, as told by an interactive map

A paper co-authored by Benjamin Keys of the Wharton School finds that home insurance premiums have risen sharply since 2020, concentrated in disaster-prone ZIP codes and driven by elevated reinsurance costs.

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Penn wants Philly to be a global track destination. Bringing more pros to town is part of it

Penn Relays director Steve Dolan and Penn athletic director Alanna Shanahan share how the new Grand Slam Track circuit event will help make Penn a global track destination.

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Technical.ly Philly

A sneak peek inside Penn Engineering’s new $137.5M mass timber building

Amy Gutmann Hall aims to be Philadelphia’s next big hub for AI and innovation while setting a new standard for architectural sustainability.

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6ABC.com

New building at University of Pennsylvania aims to become hub for AI research

Amy Gutmann Hall, set to open in early 2025, is dedicated to advancing artificial intelligence and data science. 

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Philadelphia Business Journal

First look: Inside Penn’s new Amy Gutmann Hall, the region's largest mass timber building

Amy Gutmann Hall will be a catalyst for groundbreaking artificial intelligence research and collaboration across disciplines, with remarks from Dean Vijay Kumar of the School of Engineering and Applied Science.

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