University of Pennsylvania School of Design

The University of Pennsylvania School of Design (PennDesign) is the design school of the University of Pennsylvania. It is currently ranked 5th overall by Planetizen, and is widely regarded as one of the best design schools in the country. [Planetizen, The Top Schools for Urban Planners, The Top Schools for Urban Planners, http://www.planetizen.com/node/21731/.] PennDesign offers degrees in architecture, landscape architecture, city and regional planning, historic preservation, and fine arts, as well as several dual degrees with other graduate schools at the University of Pennsylvania, including the Wharton School and PennLaw. The School of Design is particularly well known for its distinguished faculty, which have included world famous architect Louis Kahn and pioneer of landscape architecture Ian McHarg. More recent well known graduates include Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

History

Architectural courses were first offered by the University of Pennsylvania in 1868, making the school the second oldest architectural program in the United States. By the turn of the century it was well established, attracting well-known local architects: Walter Cope, John Stewardson, Frank Miles Day, and Wilson Eyre, who formed the first Philadelphia School. [History adapted in part from http://www.design.upenn.edu/new/about/history.htm] In 1903, these architects were joined by Frenchman Paul Philippe Cret, winner of seven national competitions.

In 1914, Penn's original initiative was augmented with lectures in city planning and landscape architecture, while within another seven years fine arts and music had joined architectural studies to create an independent undergraduate School of Fine Arts, modeled on the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. The School of Fine Arts joined with the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Museum School to offer programs in painting and sculpture. In 1924, Landscape Architecture was made into an autonomous department.

In the 1950s, under the leadership of G. Holmes Perkins, recruited from Harvard to reinvigorate the offerings. Perkins, founded the city planning department and focused the landscape architecture program on urban ecology. The Department of Architecture saw the arrival of structural engineers Robert LeRicolais and August Komendant, along with architects Romaldo Giurgola, Robert Venturi, Robert Geddes. He included 1924 Penn graduate Louis I. Kahn among the architecture faculty. A dedicated educator and philosopher, Kahn became the spiritual leader of the revived Philadelphia School at Penn.

In 1958 the School was renamed the Graduate School of Fine Arts, and before long, the GSFA had become a home for the leading figures in each of the disciplines. The City and Regional Planning Department recruited an extraordinary array of faculty including Lewis Mumford, Charles Abrams, Britton Harris, Martin Meyerson, Edmund Bacon, Erwin Gutkind, Denise Scott Brown, and Ann Louise Strong. A renewed Department of Landscape Architecture came under the dynamic leadership of Ian McHarg, while Peter Shepheard, architect, landscape architect and planner, succeeded Perkins as dean. A Civic Design Program later renamed Urban Design and led by David Crane was established as a joint offering by Architecture and City Planning. The Fine Arts Department became a full-fledged professional program under the leadership of Piero Dorazio, Neil Welliver, and Robert Engman. And in the 1980s, the school added a program in Historic Preservation. The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation is headed by Frank G. Matero and maintains its reputation among the best it the country. Other faculty include Randall Mason, David De Long, Lindsay Falck, David Hollenberg, John Brayton Hinchman, Gail Winkler, A.E. Charola, John Milner, Donovan Rypkema, and Michael Henry.

Named dean in 1996, Gary Hack revived many of the school’s programs, giving attention to the Department of City and Regional Planning by recruiting well known practitioners and academics including Jonathan Barnett, Robert Yaro, Thomas Daniels, Lynne Sagalyn, John Landis, and Eugenie Birch, and the Department of Landscape Architecture under the leadership of James Corner, known for his work through his firm Field Operations on the designs for New York City's High Line and Fresh Kills land fill, and Laurie Olin, Professor of Practice. Frank Matero leads the Department of Historic Preservation, and has applied his expertise in conservation to New Orleans and other critically threatened places. The Department of Architecture faculty includes Witold Rybczynski, Marion Weiss, Cecil Balmond, Enrique Norten, Winka Dubbeldam, Detlef Mertins, and David Leatherbarrow, while the Department of Fine Arts was strengthened with the addition of realist painter John Moore, painter Jackie Tileston, artist Joshua Mosley and sculptor Terry Adkins. In addition, Hack created Penn Praxis, the practice arm of the school, whose most prominent projects have been undertaken by its Delaware Riverfront Planning Project and its Center for Affordable Housing. Other associated centers and institutes include the T.C. Chan Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies, the Center for Redevelopment Excellence (CUREx), and the Penn Institute for Urban Research (Penn IUR). In 2003, the school changed its name to the School of Design – known familiarly as Penn Design – to reflect a more accurate description of the School's major concerns and advancements made across a variety of fields.

On May 15, 2008, President Amy Gutmann announced that Marilyn Jordan Taylor, Chairman of the Urban Land Institute and erstwhile Chairman of Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, was named Dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Design. She will be replacing outgoing Dean Gary Hack.

Degree Programs Offered

*Architecture
**Master of Architecture – Professional
**Master of Architecture – Post Professional
**Master of Science
**Doctor of Philosophy
*City & Regional Planning
**Master of City Planning
**Doctor of Philosophy in City Planning
**Accelerated B.A./M.C.P.
*Fine Arts
**Master of Fine Arts
*Historic Preservation
**Master of Science in Historic Preservation
*Landscape Architecture
**Master of Landscape Architecture

Certificates are offered in Urban Design, Historic Preservation, Time-Based Media, Graphic Design, Urban Redevelopment and Real Estate Design and Development. Joint Degrees are offered among all programs in the School of Design, as well as with the Wharton School, Penn Law, School of Social Policy and Practice, The Fels School of Government, The School of Education, and The School of Engineering and Applied Science

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.design.upenn.edu/ University of Pennsylvania School of Design official web site]