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History

Sustainability Timeline

Sustainable Buildings

Well built, durable lasting buildings are our most sustainable tradition:*

  • College Hall (1873)
  • Cohen Hall (1874)
  • Fisher Fine Arts Library (1891)
  • Houston Hall (1896)
  • University Museum (1895-99)
  • Law School, Silverman Hall (1900)
  • Towne Building (1906)
  • Franklin Field (1922-25)
  • The Palestra and Hutchinson Gym (1928)
  • The Quadrangle (1894-1959)

*Data is from Building America's First UniversityAn Historical and Architectural Guide to the University of Pennsylvania 2000 by Penn's George E. Thomas, Lecturer of Historical Preservation and Urban Studies and David B. Brownlee, Professor and Chair, History of Art.


Irvine Auditorium was dedicated with the Curtis Sesquicentennial Exposition Organ on May 9, 1929. The building's design was directed by the Horace Trumbauer firm, led by chief designer Julian Abele, the first African-American graduate of Penn's School of Architecture (1902).


Adaptive Re-Use and Reinvestment

Sustainability requires not only looking at present and future needs, but also drawing upon the lessons and resources from the past. Adaptive Reuse of buildings is now an important part of the sustainability movement. This year, the University celebrated the tenth anniversary of the restoration of Logan Hall. Built in 1874 by Thomas Webb Richards, Penn’s first professor of architecture, it is the second oldest building on campus. Its renovation was completed long before such efforts were connected to sustainability initiatives. Other examples of adaptive reuse on Penn’s Campus include:
  • The Moore School where ENIAC was created, ushering in the advent of the computer age, was originally the Pepper Musical Instrument Factory (1909)
  • Hayden Hall (1896) was built as Dental Hall, and later used for the School of Architecture, Geology and now for Bioengineering.

More recent projects, primarily housing research labs, have featured flexible space planning to accommodate ever changing programmatic needs over the life of the building:

  • Clinical Research Building (1990)
  • Vagelos Laboratories (1998)
  • Biological Research Building II/III (1999)
  • New Research Building at Center for Advanced Medicine (2008)

Sustainable Landscaping

Penn has championed the cause of sustainable landscape for many years. In the late sixties, Ian McHarg, Landscape Architect and founder of Penn’s Graduate School of Fine Arts Program in Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning published the book Design with Nature. This was a landmark endeavor calling attention to the notion of designing and implementing projects with respect for nature. The ideas of responsible ecological planning and development such as urban planning, reducing runoff, permeable paving systems, and native plant materials were brought to the forefront of design by this book.

In the early 1970's, the Graduate School of Fine Arts, in conjunction with Facilities Planning and Development produced a plan and later implemented the renovation of College Green. This inspired and helped establish the protocols for design review,  and implementing campus landscape improvements.

Over the past 25 years many projects large and small have incorporated the principals of reducing runoff, permeable paving systems, native plant material and the re use of landscape materials (stone pavers, bricks etc.) Some of these projects are:

  • College Green's amphitheater, constructed of former curbstones of 36th Street.
  • Class of 1959 Plaza at 37th and Locust paved with materials from the demolished Annenberg School plaza.
  • The Biology Gardens, now Kaskey Park (c. 1890) built to serve the adjacent Biology program and still contains historic tree specimens, a pond and aquatic life.
  • Greening of the campus, eliminating pavement and promoting a pedestrian environment.
  • Closing Locust Street from 36th to 37th Streets (1963).
  • Closing Woodland Avenue and putting the trolley below grade (1956).
  • Ian McHarg designs the landscape “park-lets” along Woodland Walk from 36th to 37th Streets. (c. 1957)
  • University Landscape Master Plan of 1976 led by Sir Peter Shepheard, Dean of the Graduate School of Fine Arts, created Blanche Levy Park and established the current landscape vocabulary that we continue today.
  • Redesign of the Quadrangle landscape featuring sustainable landscape design details and native plantings by Andropogon Associates (2002).
  • Design of 125 Years of Women at Penn at Woodland Walk featuring storm water management and rain garden - Jenny Holzer/Olin Partnership (2004).
  • Civic House Garden, utilizing recycled pavers and native plantings (2007).

Furthermore, Penn has assisted neighborhood projects with site improvements by sharing recycled stone and plants, notably:
  • Clark Park Farmers Market area; Schuylkill River Park Landscape; and Powelton Community Gardens, to name a few.

In the past 20 years we've removed close to five acres of pavement on campus, now parks and gardens; planted about 5,000 trees; and have salvaged and re-used almost 40,000 square feet of pavers.

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