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UPenn Weitzman Architecture

@weitzman_arch

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University of Pennsylvania
Department of Architecture
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ARCH 704 | Stone, Cloud, Quarry, Memory | Work by Junxi Liu @liulikoo and Etta Yang @ettaaa730 | Critic: Kazuyo Sejima @sanaa_jimusho and Toshihiro Oki @toshihiro_oki_architect | TA: Nicole Bronola | Spring 2026

Set within one of Inujima’s remaining quarry scars, this project asks what architecture might leave behind as an island enters slow abandonment. It does not resist death. It resists forgetting.

The quarry is read not as a void to be repaired, but as a monumental memory-field shaped by extraction, time, and human decision. Its existing condition is preserved as an unresolved landscape, then reactivated as an open-air ground for gathering, performance, rest, and night.

Stone is the primary spatial instrument. Two stones frame a path; three begin to hold space. Pathways emerge through use, while unwalked ground is gradually reclaimed by vegetation, allowing human behavior and ecological succession to co-author the site. Terraces slow water, accumulate soil, and support long-term revegetation. Quarry gravel walls filter runoff while providing places to sit and gather.

Above, light TPU clouds tethered to stone create shifting zones of shade, softness, and blurred enclosure. Mist, drawn from filtered terrace water, dissolves the boundary of the theater, immersing visitors in an atmosphere where architecture survives only through its dependence on nature.

@weitzman_arch #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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2 days ago

Over the past year, members of the Weitzman community have been collaborating with our neighbors across Philadelphia to re-imagine the city as a place transformed by collective care.⁠
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Developed through conversations, workshops, and design sessions, A People’s Philly is a public exhibition at this year’s DesignPhiladelphia, opening October 1.⁠
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Inspired by the legacy of the 1976 Bicentennial protests and the visionary work of grassroots Philadelphia organizations, A People’s Philly foregrounds how community-led movements for spatial justice, liberatory activism, and shared stewardship shape the city’s present and future.⁠
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The ideas and experiences of youth, residents, activists, and grassroots organizers in North Philadelphia, Kensington, West Philadelphia, Grays Ferry, and across the city shape the exhibition’s videos, imagery, and speculative visions. Visitors are invited to join this ongoing process through mapping, collaging, writing, and design activities that add their own ideas to the exhibition’s evolving collective vision.⁠
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Organized by faculty, alumni, and graduate students at Weitzman, the project was developed in collaboration with DesignPhiladelphia, Breakthrough of Greater Philadelphia, Philly Peace Park, Kensington Corridor Trust, Norris Square Neighborhood Project, Philly Thrive, New Africa Center, and the Human XR Lab at Universidad del Atlántico Medio.⁠
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On view at the Village of Industry and Art from October 1–11, A People’s Philly approaches design as a collective practice for imagining and shaping the city’s future.⁠
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Learn more. Link in stories. ⁠
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1-2) “The project really is about inviting Philly to consider alternatives to the trajectory that we’re on right now,” says architect and faculty member Rashida Ng, who spearheaded the collaboration along with Eduardo Rega Calvo. (Rendering by Human XR Lab)⁠
3) The team and community partners developed a speculative history of Philadelphia’s next five decades. (Collage by Spatial Justice Collective)⁠
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@designphilly⁠
@villageofindustryandart⁠
@breakthroughphl⁠
@northphillypeacepark⁠
@kctphilly⁠
@myneighborhoodproject⁠
@phillythrive⁠
@rngdesign⁠
@n_nashef⁠
@human.xr.lab⁠ by @weitzman_arch

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8 days ago

ARCH 602 | RIFT (Riverfront Interstitial Forum + Theatre) | Work by Tommy Lee @mcwiggens | Critic: Andrew Saunders @andrewasaunders | TA: Laura Ellis @_archellis_ | Spring 2026

RIFT is a performing arts center on the Delaware River waterfront conceived not as a singular object, but as a sectional incision through the city. At its core lies a simple question: How can a performing arts center serve not only performers, but the community around it?

Rather than functioning solely as a venue for performance, RIFT is envisioned as a civic hub for learning, growth, and exchange. A central rift carves through the mass timber structure, generating a network of interstitial spaces where performance extends beyond the stage and into everyday life. The project comprises nine venues, including two primary theaters and seven secondary spaces in the form of terraces, forums, runways, and rehearsal rooms. Together, they encourage participation, education, and community engagement.

Anchoring the building is an experiential roastery that acts as a vertical social spine, connecting a ground-floor café, patisserie, and rooftop bar, where everyday rituals become acts of performance. Wrapped in a vibrant ceramic façade inspired by pop art and Philadelphia’s mural culture, the building transitions from deep blue facing the city to crimson facing the river, reflecting the dialogue between water and urban fabric. RIFT is a place where creativity, learning, and community converge, bringing Philadelphia together, one colour at a time.

@weitzman_arch #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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9 days ago

As summer gives way to fall in the Northern Hemisphere, this year’s deadly heatwaves feel remote. But scientists reported that August of 2026 was Earth’s hottest month on record, and part of a disturbing trend.⁠
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One of the Penn researchers responding to the growing public health threat from climate change is Dorit Aviv, an associate professor of architecture who leads the Thermal Architecture Lab (TAL). ⁠
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Working at the intersection of thermodynamics, architectural design, and material science, TAL collaborates with designers and scientists in the US and abroad to devise alternative cooling strategies for both indoor and outdoor environments. ⁠
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This month, through a grant from Penn Climate, Aviv and her team installed ThermoTerra, a temporary, outdoor “cooling corner” on the McHarg Terrace at Weitzman Hall.⁠
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Learn more about the project via link in stories. ⁠
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1) ThermoTerra combines the power of conductive cooling with shade from trees. The prototype is installed outside Weitzman Hall along Smith Walk through October 8 and will pop up in various locations on Penn’s campus. (Photo Eric Sucar)⁠
2-3) ThermoTerra’s ergonomic benches were designed to encourage stretching out, to maximize the user’s skin contact with the cool surface. They were cast from a unique concrete formulation developed by Penn Engineering’s Shu Yang that absorbs and stores carbon, making the system carbon-negative. (Photo Eric Sucar)⁠
4) An infrared image showing the impact of the embedded cooling system, reducing the surface temperature of the bench by 6-10°C (10-18°F) relative to surroundings.⁠
5-6) Initial sketches of the project and a system diagram of the cooling benches, showing solar panels powering the heat pump system which chills the water circulating in the benches, in turn cooling people sitting on the cold surface through conductive cooling. Living trees provide shade.⁠
7) The team behind ThermoTerra includes Eliott Haddad, Hanzhong Luo, Yuan-Ching Yu, Zhan Shi, and Thamer Alsalem. Heat pump and solar power system: Eric Teitelbaum.⁠
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@pennclimate⁠ by @weitzman_arch

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14 days ago

Third year Master of Architecture students from the Spring 2026 7040 studio traveled to Japan. The trip was led by Kazuyo Sejima and Toshihiro Oki to see a part of the country that is uncommon to visit.

The studio project site was Inujima Island in the Seto Inland Sea where students proposed ideas that could be in balance with the history, culture, people and environment of this small island.

The workshop on Inujima gave students the experience of clearing bamboo for opening up sea views, speaking with the elderly islanders, wandering the island landscape, visiting the neighboring islands of Naoshima and Teshima and exploring their ideas in situ.

Along the way, they visited Tokyo, Kyoto and Takamatsu to see historical and contemporary works of architecture, temples, gardens and taste the cuisine.

At the end, the studio presented their ideas in SANAA’s office to a group of Japanese architects.

Video by Yoshihiro Inada (@yoshihiro_inada)
Sound by Nozomu Matsumoto (@nozomumatsumoto), Visible Cloaks (@visiblecloaks)

With support from Fukutake Foundation @benesse_artsite (Inujima “Art House Project”, Inujima Life Garden @inujima_life_garden)

@weitzman_arch @weitzman_school @sanaa_jimusho @toshihiro_oki_architect #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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15 days ago

ARCH 502 | Blanch Nixon Library | Work by Alli Eberhardt @alliclaree | Critic: David Eugin Moon @david_eugin_moon | TA: Edward Liang @edward_j_leung | Spring 2026

Situated near Cobbs Creek Parkway, the new Blanch Nixon Library extends the adjacent park into the city. Inspired by existing nature programming and birding activities, the project brings ecological education to the residents while restoring the site’s historic creek through daylighting and a new wetland park. The elevated, modular library creates space for three landscape zones: wetland, recreation, and habitat, connected by meandering paths. Raised to align with the tree canopy and located along the Atlantic Flyway, the project positions the library and park as a shared space for both people and wildlife.

@weitzman_arch #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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16 days ago

Congratulations to Master of Architecture students Ann Teng Chua @akitings, Teng “Tommy” Lee @mcwiggens, Liam Niland @lnstud.io, and Kotaro Shiraishi @kotaro_shiraishi_arch, whose project “The Rainwoven Court” took first place in the USTA Future Courts student design competition.

Created to challenge the next generation of designers to look beyond the lines of the tennis court, Future Courts invited university students from across the country to reimagine the spaces and infrastructure that surround the game, and how they could better reflect the programmatic, social, climate and cultural identities of the communities they serve. They were asked to “retool the DNA of the tennis court” and “dream without constraints” to see how people move, play, and gather.

The Rainwoven Court presented a vision rooted directly in its setting, exploring how thoughtful design could make the space around the game more connected to both its environment and community. Designed for a theoretical site in Houston, The Rainwoven Court imagines a climate-responsive, open-air tennis park shaped by the city’s heat, humidity and heavy rainfall. Rather than treating those conditions as obstacles, the design makes them part of the experience. Rain chains, permeable surfaces and water-collection systems capture precipitation to help irrigate clay courts, while pathways connect the courts to the surrounding park and landscape.

@usta #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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21 days ago

The Department of Architecture welcomes Emiliano López and Mónica Rivera for their lecture, “Climate, Use, Construction,” next Wednesday, September 23rd. Please join us in Plaza Gallery, Meyerson Hall at 6:30 PM. This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the link for Events in our bio.

This lecture presents a series of projects through the lens of climate, use, and construction.

Mónica Rivera and Emiliano López are principals and co-founders of Emiliano López Mónica Rivera Arquitectos, based in Barcelona, Spain. Their practice is grounded in carefully crafted work that understands architecture as a cultural endeavor deeply engaged with its environment. Approaching circumstances and contingencies as positive values, they develop tectonic and conceptual responses specific to each project and site, with particular attention to social interaction, integration within context, and experimentation in construction.

Rivera and López’s work encompasses multiple scales, has received numerous international awards, and has been widely published. A monograph featuring housing projects and essays, Domestic Thresholds, was published by Quart Verlag.

@weitzman_arch @lopezriveraarquitectes #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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22 days ago

ARCH 501 | Museum Extension 01. | Work by Joey Feldman @joey.feldmann | Critic: Daniel Garcia @drawings.dwgs | TA: Zhenghao Gong | Fall 2025

This project is the final of 3 subsequent projects, building from a room to a museum extension for the ICA. The wall is a topic heavily explored within this project as there are many different interpretations on its purpose. In this case walls are not something you pass through, rather surfaces that you pass along. Designed from the outside in, this extension successfully, and unsuccessfully, displays the ICA’s formal language, while interior organization follows the proposed hinged walls. The new façade starts with a clear, grounded connection to the ICA and finishes with only new architecture. Spaces become progressively smaller and more intimate as you travel upwards, with the new staircase acting as an anchor to filter out from. The idealized migration upwards is previewed by the large existing opening of the ICA at the start, and a small puncture at the top of the south facade to finish. Finally, the hinged openings created by the walls allow for light to travel into the new galleries.

@weitzman_arch #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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23 days ago

From the Archives

Concrete!

It has spurred the dreams and nightmares of architects and structural engineers for centuries. This week, see how its aesthetic flexibility and chemical strength has been used to construct ‘modernity’ and the massive labor efforts often involved.

Slides 1-6: 1968-1982. Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Without familiar materials, machines, and skilled laborers, Louis I. Kahn’s National Assembly building required learning more about local workers and their environment. A binder by project architect, Fred Langford, reveals the regional tools and methods used for the capitol project.

Slides 7-11: 1962. La Jolla, CA.
Combining concrete’s aesthetic and structural potentials, Kahn’s Salk Institute’s cast-in-place surface treatment harmonizes eye with building on its ocean overlook. Its material make-up includes volcanic ash (pozzolanic), an ancient roman technique which strengthens the concrete against water exposure.

Slides 12-14: 1959-1962. Philadelphia, PA.
Non-standard construction for a non-standard form, GBQC’s Police Administration Building (aka. The Roundhouse) was built using precast concrete panels and a Schokbeton post-tensioning method. Structural engineer August Komendant’s work was paramount to the project. It is a controversial building due to its past use.

Slides 15-20: 1914-1915. Atlantic City, NJ.
Sold as the “largest fireproof hotel resort in the world,” the cast concrete Traymore Hotel by Price & McLanahan boasted 18 stories and 600 rooms. A radically modern structure in the 1910s, the building’s materials were its downfall, and it was detonated in 1972 (look it up!).

If you’d like to crack into any of these or other documents related to concrete construction, the Architectural Archive is open to students and non-students through research appointments and organized tours.

For more information, please visit https://www.design.upenn.edu/architectural-archives/collections or contact the Architectural Archives at archarchives@design.upenn.edu

#weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #universityofpennsylvania #architecturalarchives #architecturelover by @weitzman_arch

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24 days ago

In Weitzman’s new Master of Science in Design: Property Development and Design program, students are using AI to integrate design and finance, and developers are taking note. ⁠
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Richard Garber, the program’s associate director, explains that the use of AI to test real-world scenarios around property development is an evolution of how architects use advanced large language models (LLMs). ⁠
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“AI allows us to use real 2D and 3D data to better design each site for what real estate people call ‘highest and best use,’” Garber says.⁠
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1) Xiaoyang Qiu’s project is a mid-rise residential building near Rittenhouse Square for which she built custom web app prototypes.⁠
2) PDD student Alvin You created a custom web app to maximize window openings and variable shading for daylighting on a corner site in Philadelphia and tied his material proposal to both cost of construction and anticipated rents.⁠
3) “I had to defend an elaborate glazing and facade system with realistic market price assumptions while maintaining a coherent argument for fabrication methods,” says MSD-AAD student Hunter Gutt, who used OpenAI, Claude, and Gemini; along with the PennChat AI suite and 3D printing to design a proposed new housing development in Philadelphia.⁠
4) “Through computation, we are linking geometric considerations with financial considerations,” says MSD-PDD associate director Richard Garber (left). Summer session faculty member Kiran Chokshi spoke to students and guest critics at the final review. (Photo Kait Privitera)⁠
5) In optimizing her mid-rise proposal for the summer studio, Xiaoyang Qiu created a custom structural web app that studied the use of hybridized mass-timber/concrete structural system that utilized a Floor-Area-Ratio (FAR) bonus and allowed her to link project cost to the design and development metrics.⁠
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@groarchitects⁠ by @weitzman_arch

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a month ago

The Department of Architecture welcomes Benedetta Tagliabue for her lecture, “Building Environments of Care,” next Wednesday, September 16th. Please join us in Plaza Gallery, Meyerson Hall at 6:15 PM. This lecture is free and open to the public. For more information, please visit the link for Events in our bio.

Building Environments of Care explores how architecture can foster well-being by transforming public spaces into places of comfort, healing, and belonging. Through renaturalization, adaptive reuse, and human-centred design, the city can be reimagined as an environment of care—one in which nature and architecture come together to create warmth and a sense of home within the urban fabric. Attentive material choices, organic forms, and an empathetic approach to design can turn cities into nurturing landscapes that support both individual healing and collective well-being.

Benedetta Tagliabue is an architect and co-founder of EMBT Architects, established in Barcelona with Enric Miralles (1955–2000), and founder and director of the Fundació Enric Miralles. She has led the design of iconic works such as the Scottish Parliament (2004), the Santa Caterina Market (2005), and the Spanish Pavilion for the Shanghai Expo (2010). Recent projects include the Church and Parish Complex of San Giacomo Apóstolo in Ferrara (2021), the Centro Direzionale Metro Station in Naples (2024), and the Clichy-Montfermeil Metro Station in Paris (2024). She served as Louis Kahn Visiting Professor at Yale University and has previously taught at Harvard, Columbia, and other leading institutions. From 2011 to 2023, she was a jury member for the Pritzker Architecture Prize. In 2024, she received the Order of Isabella the Catholic, and in 2025, the Doctor of Design Honoris Causa from The Boston Architectural College (BAC).

@weitzman_arch @bene_tagliabue @embtarchitects #weitzmanschoolofdesign #weitzmanarchitecture #penndesign #universityofpennsylvania #architecture by @weitzman_arch

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a month ago