Spring 2023 Lectures Series Opens January 18

The Weitzman Spring 2023 Lecture Series brings together distinguished architects, landscape architects, artists, historians, preservationists, filmmakers, planners, and geographers from the US and abroad to discuss recent work and emerging trends in the built environment and visual culture.

The series includes a symposium on the intersections of design, race, and climate change in Philadelphia housing; a panel discussion with the curators of the spring Architectural Archives exhibition Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect; and a talk on the hidden histories of New York’s Central Park. The series begins on Wednesday, January 18, with Casey Mack in conversation with Ariel Genadt and Ivan Rupnik on Mack’s new book Digesting Metabolism: Artificial Land in Japan 1954-2202.

Among the scheduled speakers:
Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen, Paul Philippe Cret Visiting Professor
Sean Kelley, Senior Vice President, Director of Interpretation, Eastern State Penitentiary
Sara Zewde, Assistant Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, and Founding Principal, Studio Zewde
Joshua Citarella, Artist

Admission is free and open to the public for most events. Unless noted otherwise, lectures take place at Meyerson Hall, 210 South 34th Street, Philadelphia.

Visitors who require any accessibility accommodation, such as live captioning, audio description, or a sign language interpreter, are advised to email news@design.upenn.edu no later than 48 hours in advance.

Because information is subject to change, visitors are advised to consult www.design.upenn.edu/calendar to confirm program details

Select lectures are eligible for continuing education credit. Contact the presenting department or center for more information

Wednesday, January 18, 6:30pm
Casey Mack, Director, Popular Architecture
In Conversation with Ariel Genadt, Lecturer in Architecture, and Ivan Rupnik, Associate Professor of Architecture, Northeastern University
Digesting Metabolism: Artificial Land in Japan 1954-2202
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, January 19, 12:00pm
Public Space, Identity, Public Production
Presented by the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation as part of the Heritage Conservation in Asia Roundtable series

Wednesday, January 25, 6:30pm
Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen, Paul Philippe Cret Visiting Professor
New Visions: Conceiving Time in a Bio-Based Architecture
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, January 26, 12:00pm
Sean Kelley, Senior Vice President, Director of Interpretation, Eastern State Penitentiary
David Barnes, Associate Professor, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
Change Over Time Dialogues: Detention, Isolation, and Quarantine
Presented by the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation and Change Over Time Journal

Monday, January 30, 5:00pm
Susan Singh (MSHP’04), Architectural Historian
Postwar Urban Modernism: Early Chicago Work of Homer Rissman (1949-1953)
Presented by the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation

Monday, January 30, 6:00pm
Nisha Botchwey (MCP’99, PhD’03), Dean, Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota
The Power of Youth Participation and Advocacy Toward Healthy Place Making
Presented by the Department of City & Regional Planning

Thursday, February 2, 6:00pm
Leena Cho, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Virginia
Climate Practice from Arctic Fieldwork
Kleinman Energy Forum, 220 South 34th Street
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Thursday, February 9, 6:00pm
Joshua Citarella
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Thursday, February 16, 6:00pm
Sara Zewde, Assistant Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard University, and Founding Principal, Studio Zewde
The Aesthetics of Being
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Thursday, February 16, 6:00pm
Catalina Ouyang
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Thursday, February 23, 6:00pm
Peggy Ahwesh
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Monday, February 27, 12:00pm
Daniel Bluestone, Professor of History of Art & Architecture, Boston University
Wright Saving Wright: Preserving Robie 1957 and Beyond
Presented by the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation

Wednesday, March 1, 6:30pm
Matias del Campo, Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Michigan
In Conversation with Mario Carpo, Professor of Architectural History, University College of London
Neural Architecture – Design and Artificial Intelligence
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Wednesday, March 1, 6:00pm
Screening of Barry Farm: Community, Land & Justice in Washington DC
Discussion with Directors Sabiyha Prince and Samuel George
Presented by the Center for the Preservation of Civil Rights Sites

Thursday, March 2, 12:00pm
Nikki Luke, Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy

Wednesday, March 15, 8:30am
Heritage Conservation in Asia: Alumni Roundtable - Trends & Needs
Presented by the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation as part of the Heritage Conservation in Asia Roundtable series

Thursday, March 16, 6:00pm
Danika Cooper, Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning, University of California, Berkeley
Dry Matters
Presented by the Department of Landscape Architecture

Thursday, March 16–Thursday, March 17
Housing Justice Futures: Philadelphia Forum on Design, Race, and Climate Change
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Monday, March 20–Friday, March 24
Energy Week at Penn
Presented by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy and the Vagelos Institute for Energy Science and Technology

Tuesday, March 21, 6:00pm
Minerva Parker Nichols: The Search for a Forgotten Architect
Exhibition Opening and Panel Discussion with the Curators
Presented by the Architectural Archives with support from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage

Wednesday, March 22, 6:30pm
Dorte Mandrup, Founder and Creative Director, Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter
A Dialogue Between Place and Form
Presented by the Department of Architecture

Thursday, March 23, 6:00pm
Sara Cedar Miller, Historian Emerita, Central Park Conservancy
Before Central Park
Presented by the Department of City & Regional Planning and Department of Landscape Architecture

Thursday, March 23, 6:00pm
Eric Mack
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Thursday, March 30, 12:00pm
Heritage Indigeneity & Human Rights
Presented by the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation as part of the Heritage Conservation in Asia Roundtable series

Thursday, April 6, 6:00pm
Jade Olivo
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts

Thursday, April 13, 12:00pm
Carolyn S. Fish, Assistant Professor of Geography, University of Oregon
Presented by the Urban Spatial Analytics Program and Penn Institute for Urban Research

Thursday, April 20, 6:00pm
Every Ocean Hughes, Sachs Visiting Professor of Fine Arts
Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 South 36th Street
Presented by the Department of Fine Arts