A message from the Chair, Randall Mason
"Every day, all around us, our work, our ideas, our relationships are shaped by the built environment. Deliberate curating of the inherited built environment--a big part of what all societies think of as "heritage"--is historic preservation's professional domain. Preservationists collaborate with other professions and publics in pursuit of creating and keeping built environments that convey cultural meaning. The preservation enterprise depends on the insights of historians, the creativity of designers, the explorations of scientists, and the solutions of planners; at Penn's Weitzman School of Design, historic preservation embodies all these modes of scholarship. The Department of Historic Preservation has long contributed to the School's diverse community of scholars and practitioners, advocating for heritage places that serve the public and embody Penn's mission "In Principle and Practice."
The field of historic preservation centers on the design, adaptive use, planning, and management of existing buildings, cultural sites, communities, cities, and regions. Preservation professionals activate cultural value as part the larger flows of ideas, interests, and ecologies that shape our environment. The Department of Historic Preservation provides an integrated approach for architects, landscape architects, planners, historians, archaeologists, conservators, managers, and other professionals to understand, sustain, and transform these existing environments.
The identification and analysis of cultural places and their historic fabric, the determination of significance and value, and the design of appropriate conservation and management measures require special preparation in history, theory, documentation, technology, and planning. These processes are the core subjects of the Department's work. Students build on them to define their personal focus on architectural conservation, public history, preservation planning, or preservation design.
Students have unparalleled opportunities for study, internships, and applied research. Through courses, studios, fieldwork, and laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design--and supported by partnerships with local, national, and international institutions and agencies--students ground academic work in practical contexts. Our graduates pursue careers focused on all aspects of preservation, across the US and the world, with every kind of organization imaginable. The demand for historic preservation has never been more urgent, and the impact of Penn's Department of Historic Preservation has never been greater."
