Ceremony focuses on Annenberg Public Policy Center's design

The unique design of the new Annenberg Public Policy Center was the focus of a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday, which marked the building’s official opening. The project, which was funded by the Annenberg Foundation, was completed in August.

The ceremony was opened by University President Amy Gutmann and featured a lecture on the building’s design by the building’s architect Fumihiko Maki.

Maki, who is also designing the new United Nations building in New York City, is a Pritzker award winner — which University architect David Hollenberg called the “equivalent of the Nobel Peace Prize for architecture.”

Hollenberg explained that the University has “a design ideology on campus where we strive for the best contemporary building of our time, and Maki has helped us realize this with his innovative yet aesthetically appealing design.”

The open floor plan, which includes a three-story atrium linking the spaces, is designed with a glass-encased wood exterior to conserve energy throughout the year, said Maki.

The wooden screens that surround the building adjust to allow for shading and natural ventilation, and the airspace between the wood and the glass serves as insulation. Meanwhile, the wooden screens are made with maple wood to ensure resilience and stability.

According to Maki, the building’s color and design are used to transition from the glass exterior of the new building to the exterior of the older Annenberg School for Communication and surrounding architecture.

“When talking about the DNA of the building, it really is made of venustas — venustas is Latin for beauty,” said Maki. “However, when I translate it, I like to think of it as delight, which is what I believe this building is doing for Penn’s campus with its design.”

Monitoring systems in the structure give occupants recommendations regarding whether to close or open windows, adjust sliding doors and change thermostat settings according to outside temperatures, said Hollenberg.

Maki said he designed the agora, the main open space on the ground floor, with pumice and plaster ceiling to let sound travel and amplify. Heated water is circulated throughout the floor for heating.

At the end of the ceremony, photographs of the school’s founders, Walter and Lee Annenberg, and of Maki were unveiled. The desk Walter Annenberg used during his time as Ambassador to the Court of St. James was also placed in the Annenberg Public Policy Center Director Kathleen Hall Jamieson’s office in the building.

Over 180 people attended the ceremony, including Lee Annenberg’s daughter, Diane Deshong, a Penn alumna.

“If only Lee Annenberg could see her building at the heart of our campus,” Gutmann said.

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