University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman Plaza

The new Stuart Weitzman Plaza, home to the school’s graduation ceremony and other events, reinvigorates the setting of the School of Design to play a unique role in the life of the school and campus. Reshaping space at this key nexus of campus pedestrian circulation brings together the Fisher Fine Arts Library, the Graduate Fine Arts Program in Morgan Hall, the Architectural Archives and Meyerson Hall in new ways as a place where human connections are made, ideas hatched and where people can connect with nature and the campus as a whole.

At once a place of gathering, exchange, and movement, the project comprised brick and stone paving restoration, upgraded lighting, new tree planting to its west, the installation of two new wood benches cumulatively 80’ in length and a new stepped terrace to 34th Street. A new and generous flight of steps leads from the plaza to 34th Street and Smith Walk, strengthening connections to the eastern areas of campus. Broad terraces formed with locally-sourced, heat-treated ash frame the steps and provide seating and gathering for students and the community alike. Shade is provided by five yellowwoods, recalling the grove of yellowwoods that occupied the area prior to the construction of Meyerson Hall.

The plaza project was originally conceived as a part of the school’s masterplan of 2012 and continues the University’s decades-long initiative of forging more positive connections with its local urban fabric and community. By forming entries to facilities from the adjacent streets, removing barriers to circulation, improving sightlines, and forming more generous public spaces around the perimeter Weitzman Plaza takes its place in forming a more open and welcoming presence for the school and campus in its neighborhood.

Location
Philadelphia, PA

Owner
University of Pennsylvania

Status
Completed 2020

Key Team Members
Richard Newton, Partner-in-Charge
Laurie Olin, Design Partner
Jessica M. Henson, Consulting Partner
Eve Kootchick, Project Manager
Anneliza Kaufer, Associate
Rong Chen, Senior Landscape Architect
Moya Sun, Landscape Architect