All News
June 11, 2015

PennDesign at the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission

Map of nature trails by Boqian Xu
QIZ (Quarry Improvement Zone), Boqian Xu
Flyer for events by Boqian xu
QIZ (Quarry Improvement Zone), Boqian Xu
Soil Canal, Lanmuzhi Yang & Sheng Cai
Soil Canal, Lanmuzhi Yang & Sheng Cai
Big-Nature Ruralism, Nate Wooten
Big-Nature Ruralism, Nate Wooten
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Friends of the Pipeline, Vero Ortega & Jerri Wei
Friends of the Pipeline, Vero Ortega & Jerri Wei
BeeLine- From Destruction To Production, Wen Zhang
BeeLine- From Destruction To Production, Wen Zhang
Nate Wooten previewing work with Planning Commission staff
Nate Wooten previewing work with Planning Commission staff (photo You Wu)
Boqian Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff
Boqian Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff (photo You Wu)
Siying Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff
Siying Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff (photo You Wu)
Sign saying "re-visioning undervalued + overlooked assets in the Lehigh Valley
Close
Previous
Next
Map of nature trails by Boqian Xu
Flyer for events by Boqian xu
Soil Canal, Lanmuzhi Yang & Sheng Cai
Big-Nature Ruralism, Nate Wooten
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Friends of the Pipeline, Vero Ortega & Jerri Wei
BeeLine- From Destruction To Production, Wen Zhang
Nate Wooten previewing work with Planning Commission staff
Boqian Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff
Siying Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff
Sign saying "re-visioning undervalued + overlooked assets in the Lehigh Valley
QIZ (Quarry Improvement Zone), Boqian Xu
QIZ (Quarry Improvement Zone), Boqian Xu
Soil Canal, Lanmuzhi Yang & Sheng Cai
Big-Nature Ruralism, Nate Wooten
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Humanize the Industrial, Siying Xu
Friends of the Pipeline, Vero Ortega & Jerri Wei
BeeLine- From Destruction To Production, Wen Zhang
Nate Wooten previewing work with Planning Commission staff (photo You Wu)
Boqian Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff (photo You Wu)
Siying Xu previewing work with Planning Commission staff (photo You Wu)
Areas

On May 14, the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission and PennDesign's Dept. of Landscape Architecture opened an exhibition of students’ design proposals for the Lehigh Valley. The Commission titled the exhibition “Re-Visioning Overlooked + Undervalued Assets in the Lehigh Valley: Freight, Greenways, Industry, Landfills, Quarries, and Waterways.”

The work was developed in the fall '14 "Producing Region" second-year design studio (LARP 601), which considered the problems and potential of industrial landscapes and how design might operate at different scales to shape the form and quality of growth in the region. In the early weeks of the studio, student Nate Wooten’s regional research identified the Lehigh Valley as a natural boundary to the sprawl of the New York metropolitan region, and a belt of industry, agriculture, quarries and nature that was quickly transforming.

The new director of the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission, Becky Bradley (a graduate of PennDesign's Dept. of City and Regional Planning), was so enthusiastic about the proposals the studio generated for the valley, she mounted and promoted an exhibition of projects by Ruyi Chen, Sheng Cai, Chen Hu, Siyang Jing, Vero Ortega, Jerri Wei, Nate Wooten, Boqian Xu, Siying Xu, Lanmuzhi Yang, Wen Zhang, Rui Zhao, developed with support from 601 critics Ellen Neises, Nick Pevzner, Kira Appelhans, and Daniel Pittman.

A large number of local leaders showed up for the opening. Students, faculty and valley leaders had some energetic discussion about Penn’s injection of new ideas for directing change and growth. 
 

More News