Franca Trubiano is Associate Professor in Architecture at the Weitzman School of Design and Graduate Group Chair of the PhD Program in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a Registered Architect with l'Ordre des Architectes du Québec. Recent publications include the monograph Building Theories, Architecture as the Art of Building (Routledge, 2022), and the forthcoming co-edited book BIO/MATTER/TECHNO/SYNTHETICS: Design Futures for the More than Human (ACTAR, 2023). As co-director of the Mellon funded Humanities+Urbanism+Design (HUD) Initiative at PENN, she conducts funded research in the area of ‘Building Ethics and Construction Labor.’ Additionally, her research on material ecologies is published in Material Health: Design Frontiers (Lund Humphries, 2023) and funded by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at Penn where she seeks to influence policy decisions related to ‘Fossil Fuels, the Building Industry, and Human Health.’ In 2019, she was appointed to the University of Pennsylvania Fellows program.
Building Theories, Architecture as the Art of Building (Routledge, 2022)
March 22nd, 2023 at the Rare Book Room of the Fisher Fine Arts Library of the University of Pennsylvania.
In conversation with David Leatherbarrow and Eric Bellin.
“Another Explosion, Another Fire_ Fossil Fuels, Human Health and Architecture’s Faustian Bargain with Polymers”
Franca Trubiano, “Another Explosion, Another Fire Fossil Fuels, Human Health and Architecture’s Faustian Bargain with Polymers”
Palermo, Migrant City
Fall 2022 - Undergraduate Course _ Palermo: Urban Migration, the Built Environment, and Global Justice
A City Seminar funded by the Mellon-supported Humanities + Urbanism + Design (H+U+D) initiative of Penn’s Weitzman School of Design and School of Arts and Sciences.
Additional Publications and Projects
Women [Re[Build : Stories, Polemics, Futures
Co-edited w/ Ramona Adlakha + Ramune Bartuskaite
Women [Re]Build: Stories, Polemics, Futures combines in one resource reflections on the renewal of feminist thought in architecture (Framing Stories), challenges to practice made possible by activism (Shaping Polemics), and portrayals of inspiring practitioners who pave the way for future women architects (Building Futures).
Fossil Fuels, Building Industry, Human Health
Funded Research by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy
Nearly everything in our built environment is permeated by chemicals derived from fossil fuels. Yet there is little data about the health risks. This digest builds a case for more research, disclosure, and education.
Architectural Theory Now?
April 2019 Weitzman’s School of Design
This symposium asked, “What has happened to architectural theory and where is it headed?” Is it M.I.A., D.O.A. or simply in transition? What constitutes the practice of architectural thinking—or theory—today?