HSPV 6010 Documentation II
HSPV 6010 Documentation Research, Recording, and Interpretation II
University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman Hall
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In the spring semester of 2024, the ‘25 HSPV cohort conducted an architectural documentation project on the University of Pennsylvania’s Weitzman Hall preceding its renovation and an addition on the eastern side of the building. The course through which this project was undertaken—Documentation, Research, and Recording II—provides instruction and practice in a variety of methods for historic building recordation. These methods were used in service of creating a record of the building and evidence of its change over time prior to its profound alteration.
Weitzman Hall had originally been constructed in 1892 as a girls’ orphanage, the Foulke and Long Institute. Following its acquisition by the University of Pennsylvania, the building was used as a physics lab, complete with an exterior electro-static generator known as the “Atom Smasher,” and a nursing school before transforming into its current use: studio and critique space for Fine Arts students of the Weitzman School.
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In this course, students undertook the time-sensitive documentation through floor, section, and elevation drawings and a door and window schedule, and utilized a variety of methods, including analysis of historic photos, newspapers, and maps as well as informal interviews with Fine Arts students to substantiate a historic narrative. The final package not only illustrates the building as it stood prior to renovation, but also chronicles Weitzman Hall’s evolution throughout its existence.
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