Welcome Back!

What’s that smell? A familiar blend of MDF, wood shavings, glue, (and tears) in Addams as a new semester begins…but some of us haven’t yet adopted that permanent perfume. To ARCH102 first-years, whether you’re dabbling or sticking around or somewhere in-between, a warm welcome to undergraduate architecture!

Stock photo of our suffering MDF sheets

ARCHtank is a group of architecture students who don’t have anything better to do with their time but more vaguely architecture-related stuff outside of studio. We plan professional talks, portfolio reviews, trips to architectural sites and museums, and excuses for socializing. To all the new faces, even if you’re not set on pursuing architecture, feel free to come through these events and learn more about the department and profession. If you get a chance, swing by the upper studios on the second floor to see what we’re up to. We’d love to get to know you!

WHAT’S HAPPENING?

We have an exciting semester planned, including trips to the historic Mercer Museum and the recently reopened Glenstone. Following the successes of last semester’s studio talks with Wendy Evans Joseph of Studio Joseph and Alex Gauzza of Interface Studio Architects, we’re planning another studio talk soon with architect and researcher Andrew Wit, a professor at Temple University with his own practice, so stay tuned.

Funky 19th-20th century pre-industrial tools and objects hang from the ceiling in the Mercer Museum and Fonthill Castle. Photo credit

Glenstone’s new Pavilions provide 50,000 square feet of additional indoor exhibition space. Outside, there are 8000 newly planted trees situated in a whopping 230 acres of walkable landscape. Photo credit

ANOTHER COMPETITION

With school in session, we’re sending another competition your way to occupy your endless free time: the Corridor Reuse Design Challenge. The competition is sited in a South Philadelphia adaptive reuse building that used to be a public school, which we think is pretty interesting, so sign up and check out the brief! If that’s not enticing enough, registration is free. Even if you don’t participate, the site building itself is worth a look. Called the BOK, it hosts an eclectic mix of artist studios, cafes, craft shops, and a rooftop bar, with plenty of space left for expanded programming in the future. The deadline for entries is Monday, Feb. 4, 2019.

PENNDESIGN LECTURE SERIES

PennDesign is hosting another jam-packed semester full of talks over in Meyerson, beginning with “Symposium: Building Resilience by Design” on Jan. 22 and “Barry Bergdoll: Heavy Lightness: Marcel Breuer and Brutalism” on Jan. 23. There are some really exciting speakers coming this semester, so keep an eye out on this page for events!

SOMETHING NEW

Along with our usual event interest forms, we’ll be sending out a couple of short surveys in the next few months to compile a database of undergrad architecture-related experiences here on this blog. We won’t ask you to write a lot, but feel free to share anything that has personally impacted the way you think about design. We want to capture all the awesome things everyone’s been doing (yes, even outside the studio!) to leave a record for contemplation, inspiration, and good ol’ laughs.

Also let us know if you have any ideas just for FUN! ArchTank has a tradition of hosting many social events such as dumpling night (always a blast), BYOs, studio potlucks, pumpkin carvings, fling tanks, and more. This semester, we’d like to plan more events you love!

GET IN TOUCH

With that said, send us an email at pennarchtank@gmail.com or catch us in Addams if there are places you want to visit, speakers you want to hear, skills you want to learn, or fun gatherings and events you want to see. We’re here to make them happen for you. From all of us at ARCHtank, let’s have a great semester!

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