October 29, 2026, 6pm
210 S. 34th Street
19104 Philadelphia PA
Co-curated by Rossana Hu and Mark Lee.
The Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design presents Untimely Meditations, an evening symposium on Thursday, October 29, 2026. The program is co-curated by Rossana Hu, Miller Professor and Chair of Architecture, and co-founding partner, Neri&Hu Design and Research Office; and Mark Lee, co-founding partner, Johnston Marklee.
The title borrows Nietzsche’s Unzeitgemäße Betrachtungen and its idea of the untimely: thought that works against its own age, neither nostalgic nor merely current. The discipline of architecture’s deepest resources are slow: precedent, type, form, the transmission of ideas from teacher to student and building to building. The present is fast. The evening asks what it means to practice and to teach with the long view when the moment demands urgency, and it does so by asking each participant to speak not about their own work, but about the influences they carry and the emerging practices they believe we should be watching.
This is an evening in the round rather than a lecture: No stage and no table, but a circle, with participants and audience seated together and two projections, one on each side of the room. Each participant will speak for roughly ten minutes, followed by open discussion.
Participants
Kersten Geers, Co-founding partner, OFFICE Kersten Geers David Van Severen / Vanessa Grossman, Assistant Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania / Go Hasegawa, Founder, Go Hasegawa and Associates / Ferda Kolatan, Associate Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; Founding director, SU11 Architecture and Design / Wilfried Kuehn, Co-founding partner, Kuehn Malvezzi / Éric Lapierre, Founder, Experience / Regine Leibinger, Co-founding partner, Barkow Leibinger; Founder, Experimental Foundation / Jing Liu, Co-founding Partner, SO-IL / Angelo Lunati, Founder, Onsitestudio / Michael Meredith, Co-principal, MOS / Ali Rahim, Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania; Co-founding partner, Contemporary Architecture Practice.
Untimely Meditations is presented as part of Weitzman’s Fall 2026 lecture series. From making cities more resilient to understanding new buildings as opportunities for environmental responsibility and social engagement, the speakers in this series offer perspective on some of the most pressing issues facing built environment professionals, cultural leaders, and policy makers today. Upcoming speakers include Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, Oliver Lutjens, and Thomas Phifer. Admission to most events is free and open to all; some events require advance registration. Select lectures are eligible for continuing education credit.
The mission of the Weitzman School of Design is to prepare students to address complex sociocultural and environmental issues through thoughtful inquiry, creative expression, and innovation. As a diverse community of scholars and practitioners, Weitzman is committed to advancing the public good–locally and globally–through art, design, planning, and preservation.
Learn more at design.upenn.edu.
