Weitzman School of Design

The University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design prepares students to address complex sociocultural and environmental issues through thoughtful inquiry, creative expression, and innovation. As a diverse community of scholars and practitioners, we are committed to advancing the public good–both locally and globally–through art, design, planning, and preservation. 

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  • Publication
    All Things Useful and Ornamental: A Praxis-based Model for Conservation Education
    (2007-11-01) Matero, Frank G
    Since its emergence in the twentieth century as a discreet field combining intellectual inquiry and applied knowledge, the conservation of historic and artistic works has developed into a distinct professionally defined discipline.(1) In both concept and practice, conservation has as its fundamental objective the protection of cultural property from loss and depletion. As such it is concerned primarily with the physical well-being of cultural and historical resources by observing and analyzing their form, production, and meanings; conducting investigations to determine the cause and effect of deterioration; and directing remedial and preventive interventions focused on maintaining the integrity and survival of the resource. This does not assume a priori a singular dedication to the physical fabric alone but rather to the entire resource including the associated intangible qualities thus bringing the conservation process back into the social realm of people, places and things.
  • Publication
    Preserving Large Farming Landscapes: The Case of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
    (2017-05-01) Daniels, Thomas L.; Payne-Riley, Lauren
    Preserving large farming landscapes is one of the main goals of farmland preservation programs. Other goals include protecting highly productive soils, maintaining and enhancing the local farming economy, and promoting locally produced fresh food. Farmland preservation programs take time, however, because of the hefty funding requirements and the detailed process of preserving farmland through the acquisition of conservation easements by purchase or donation. The standard measures of dollars spent and farmland acres preserved do not give an accurate picture of the spatial outcomes of preservation and preservation effectiveness. Three other measures better reflect the spatial effectiveness of farmland preservation: acreage and percentage of preserved farm parcels located in agricultural zones, number and acreage of preserved farm parcels in large contiguous blocks, and number and acreage of preserved farm parcels along growth boundaries. Scattered preserved farms and preserved farms not located in agricultural zones are likely to face more nonfarm development nearby as well as problems with non- farm neighbors. The farmland preservation effort in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, provides an important case study of the pattern of farmland preservation over time. Other counties and land trusts can employ geographic information systems (GIS) methods in this study to monitor and evalu- ate the progress of their farmland preservation efforts.
  • Publication
    Conflicts of Interest in the Structure of REITs
    (1996-06-01) Sagalyn, Lynne B
    When the surge of equity REIT initial public offerings (IPOs) came to market in 1993 and 1994, the quality as well as an obvious increase in the quantity of newly securitized real estate (approximately $15.1 billion in the first two years of this bull market), defined a new REIT marketplace. By the end of 1995, the implied market capitalization of equity REITs had reached $59 billion, fourfold its size in 1992, and these real estate companies controlled approximately $83 billion in real estate.
  • Publication
    Exploring conservation strategies for ancestral puebloan sites
    (2003-01-01) Matero, Frank G
    In the American Southwest, indigenous pueblo cultures are a vital part of the region's contemporary mosaic of ethnic diversity. This is especially evident through their long-standing relationship to the land and landscape as reflected in the continuity of place for all pueblo communities and the countless number of ancestral sites that figure prominently in contemporary beliefs and practices. Recently many such sites have gained federal recognition and legal protection as archaeological and traditional cultural sites, yet stabilization, protection, use and interpretation of these sites according to existing theories and models of conservation have proven to be difficult. Based on the recognition that such places remain critical to the continuing identity of Native peoples and that many of these sites are simultaneously visited and enjoyed by the public, their preservation and respectful management have become a relevant, timely and sometimes controversial issue. Beginning in 1997 the University of Pennsylvania, the National Park Service and San Ildefonso Pueblo inaugurated an integrated research and training programme focused on the conservation and management of Tsankawi (New Mexico), an ancestral puebloan mesa site of great cultural and archaeological significance. The project afforded a critical examination of the theoretical and ethical issues surrounding the preservation and management of ancestral archaeological sites and the technical methods required for their stabilization and interpretation as cultural landscapes. Professionals, students and pueblo affiliates engaged in documentation, condition survey and preservation treatments of the ancient tuff rock trails and pueblo structures. From this effort, a strategic conservation plan was developed and its initial implementation explored through an annual training programme involving pueblo and university interns as well as professional archaeologists and cultural resource managers.
  • Publication
    A Diagnostic Study and Treatment Evaluation for the Cleaning of Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial
    (1984) Matero, Frank G
    To commemorate the naval victory of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry during the War of 1812, a monument known as Perry's Victory and International Peace Memorial was planned and erected on South Bass Island in Lake Erie. Begun in 1912 in the centennial year of Perry's victorious battle, the winning design was a massive Doric column of granite and concrete set in a stepped plaza. Completed in 1915, the memorial remains the largest Doric column actually built. In August of 1981, a conservation study of the memorial column was conducted by the North Atlantic Historic Preservation Center, National Park Service, to evaluate potential techniques for the cleaning of the exterior granite surfaces and to provide information for long-term monitoring of the ambient and internal wall conditions of the column. In order to achieve these goals, an evaluation program was developed based on archival research, field testing, and laboratory analysis for the selection of the most appropriate cleaning and monitoring methods.
  • Publication
    The High Cost of Free Highways
    (2007-01-01) Weinberger, Rachel
    It is widely but not universally held that more roads mean more traffic. In spite of this evidence we are continually seduced by the notion that we can zone for low density to preclude traffic from occurring, that we can move far away from traffic that we can avoid it, and/or that we can build our way out of traffic. This low density race to the edge results in the ill-defined but expensive condition of sprawl. In a counter vein, New Urbanists, Advocates of Transit Oriented Development (TOD), and smart growth advocates have embraced the notion that traffic has always been with us and is here to stay, but we can make the most of our activity spaces by concentrating development, arresting the creation of new roads, and investing wisely in high capacity transportation systems.
  • Publication
    Eyes That Do Not See? The Practice of Sustainable Architecture
    (1995) Braham, William
    Under New York law, roof-top water towers are invisible. The terms of the code are not vague; the silhouette of a water tower and the shadow it casts are transparent to the zoning envelope and the sky-exposure plane. This is not, of course, truly mysterious; it results from the neglect of a small effect in the guarantee of sufficient light at street level. But water towers are invisible in quite another sense and this raises useful questions about architecture.
  • Publication
    Managing Change: The Role of Documentation and Condition Survey at Mesa Verde National Park
    (2003-03-01) Matero, Frank G
    The approximately 600 cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado represent the apex of architectural sophistication of the Northern San Juan Ancestral Puebloan culture. The cliff dwellings, the final product of 600 years of cultural development on the Mesa Verde, were built between A.D. 1200 and 1300, and were abandoned shortly thereafter. The spectacular setting and the well-preserved state of these masonry structures and their surface finishes resulted in Mesa Verde's being the first nomination by the U.S. government to the World Cultural Heritage Sites List. Moreover, descendants of these ancient peoples, the Pueblo Indians of Arizona and New Mexico, continue to venerate these sites, representing a cultural continuity unique for North America. Excavation and preservation have been continuous since Mesa Verde became one of the first national parks in 1906. The structures interpreted to the public have been preserved over the years with a minimum of repair and replacement, resulting in a cultural resource of great integrity and authenticity. A phased conservation program to develop coordinated methods for the survey, analysis, stabilization, and interpretation of the masonry and prehistoric surface finishes in the alcovate (cliff-dwelling) sites of Mesa Verde National Park has been in progress since 1994 by the Architectural Conservation Laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania. The program has included a comprehensive method of study, including archival research, technical analysis, and characterization of the architectural materials; detailed field and digital recording of existing conditions, including environmental monitoring; and the design, testing, and execution of a treatment and protection program specifically focused on the in situ stabilization of plain and painted architectural surface finishes. Though case-study oriented, this article addresses in detail the theoretical and technical aspects of condition survey and recording as an important vehicle for material and site diagnostics, which must precede remedial and preventive interventions. Detailed information is provided on the use of current digital technology for condition survey.
  • Publication
    Land Preservation: An Essential Ingredient in Smart Growth
    (2005-01-01) Daniels, Thomas L.; Lapping, Mark
    The preservation of land for working rural landscapes, wildlife habitat, urban parks, recreational trails, and protecting water supplies and floodplains is emerging as an integral component of smart growth programs. Both the general public and nonprofit organizations have been willing to spend billions of dollars on land preservation because of a perception that traditional land use planning and regulation are not successfully accommodating growth or protecting valuable natural resources. The literature on smart growth has largely overlooked the potential of land preservation to curb sprawl and to foster livable communities. The literature on land preservation has focused on the mechanics of conservation easements and land purchases rather than on how land preservation can fit in the comprehensive planning process to achieve community smart growth goals. More research needs to be done on the strategic use of land preservation in shaping and directing growth as part of a comprehensive planning effort.
  • Publication
    Predicting Housing Abandonment with the Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System
    (2003-01-01) Hillier, Amy E; Culhane, Dennis P.; Smith, Tony E; Tomlin, C. Dana
    Several large US cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Philadelphia, have developed information systems to distribute property-level housing data to community organizations and municipal agencies. These early warning systems are also intended to predict which properties are at greatest risk of abandonment, but they have rarely used statistical modeling to support such forecasts. This study used logistic regression to analyze data from the Philadelphia Neighborhood Information System in order to determine which properties were most likely to become imminently dangerous. Several different characteristics of the property, including whether it was vacant, had outstanding housing code violations, and tax arrearages as well as characteristics of nearby properties were identified as significant predictors. Challenges common to the development of early warning systems - including integrating administrative data, defining abandonment, and modeling temporal and spatial data - are discussed along with policy implications for cities like Philadelphia that have thousands of vacant and abandoned properties.