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Center for DesignPhiladelphia, 1218 Arch Street, Philadelphia
Wednesday 26 Mar 2025
5:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Join us in honoring Vishaan Chakrabarti and the student winners of DesignPhiladelphia’s 2025 Edmund N. Bacon Urban Design Awards. Vishaan Chakrabarti is an architect, author, and public thought leader. He is the founder of PAU | Practice for Architecture and Urbanism, a Manhattan-based architecture firm dedicated to building ecological, equitable and joyous communities. As a licensed practitioner across several states, Chakrabarti leads the studio’s cultural, institutional, commercial, and infrastructure work including Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery, Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Princeton’s Hobson College, Philadelphia’s Schuylkill Yards, and New York’s Pennsylvania Station. His past positions include working as a principal in other global architecture firms, teaching at Columbia University, and serving as the William Wurster Dean at UC Berkeley’s college of architecture. As Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s director of planning for Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11, Chakrabarti helped to reimagine the High Line, rebuild the World Trade Center, extend the #7 subway line, and revitalize the waterfront.
In addition to his role at PAU and serving on numerous non-profit boards, Chakrabarti currently teaches at Cornell University as the Thomas J. Baird Visiting Critic in Architecture, and is a regular contributor to the New York Times, Vital City, and other publications. He is the author of two books: A Country of Cities: A Manifesto for an Urban America (Metropolis Books, 2013), and most recently, The Architecture of Urbanity: Designing for Nature, Culture, and Joy (Princeton University Press, September 2024) in which he argues that designing connected physical communities that bridge our differences—as opposed to disconnected technologies that exacerbate them—is essential to addressing our greatest societal challenges from climate change to political division to our growing public health crises.
The 2025 competition asks students to focus on the area affectionately known as “The Disney Hole,” located at the southwest corner of 8th and Market in Center City, Philadelphia. The surface parking lot at the southwest corner of 8th and Market in Center City, Philadelphia, symbolizes missed opportunities. From the 1890s to the 1980s, it was home to the grand Gimbel’s Department Store. After Gimbel’s closed, changing trends led to the building’s demolition. In the late 1980s, the space was intended for DisneyQuest, an entertainment complex that never materialized, leaving behind a large excavation hole. This area, known as “The Disney Hole,” is now a parking lot. Through the Disney Hole Student Design Competition, students are invited to reimagine and revitalize this neglected space.
The ceremony will be followed by a coffee + dessert reception for all in attendance.
With the purchase of a VIP ticket, we invite you to join the award winner and us before the ceremony at 5:30 PM for our VIP Reception which features hors d’oeuvres, wine, beer, and music. In attendance will be Vishaan Chakrabarti, local dignitaries, and our built-environment-focused sponsors, without whom this program would not be possible.
February 20th at Penn’s Weitzman School of Design, in a lively room filled with about 60 participants – a mix of undergraduate and graduate level planning students from University of Pennsylvania, Temple University, and West Chester University and seasoned planning professionals from both the public and private sectors.
teams from Philadelphia and the surrounding counties in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey and Delaware.
on the Philadelphia region. He injected his humor into developing the script and route for the orientation walking tours at the 2023 National Planning Conference and the Mpact Conference in October 2024. He loved attending APAPASE social events and contributing his excellent amateur photography skills.
students and professionals networked amongst each other. Guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and a housing-themed playlist!
network and learn how planners can be part of the solution to the housing crisis locally and nationally.
