Franca Trubiano is associate professor of Architecture and Graduate Group Chair of the PhD program at the Weitzman School of Design where she teaches in construction technology, sustainable design, energy free design principles, material ecologies and building theories.. She is a member and co-director of the Mellon Humanities+Urbanism+ Design (H+U+D) Initiative at Penn where she conducts funded research in the area of “Building Ethics and Construction Labor.” She is also funded by the Perry World House at Penn for her research on “Forced Labour, Urban Migration and the Built Environment.” The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy sponsored her work on “Fossil Fuels, the Building Industry, and Human Health.” Previous research was funded by the US Department of Energy and NSF. Building Theories, Architecture as the Art of Building (Routledge, 2022) was recently published and in 2019 she co-edited Women [Re]Build; Stories, Polemics, Futures (2019). Design and Construction of High-Performance Homes: Building Envelopes, Renewable Energies and Integrated Practice was translated in Korean in 2015. .
Dr. Franca Trubiano
(Fall 2020 -
Jane Dwares is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania studying architecture and urban studies. She researches building labor ethics as an assistant to Professor Franca Trubiano. Her other research experience includes working alongside a small team of students within the University of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Innovations Initiative, interning at the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and her current work as a research assistant to Nikhil Anand in the area of urban coastal environments. Outside of research, Jane served as Co-President of the University of Pennsylvania Chapter of Isla Urbana Foundation. Their mission is to promote sustainable access to clean water through rainwater harvesting and other practices.
Jane Dwares
(Fall 2022 -
Selma Farsakh Ulm is an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania and research assistant to Associate Professor Franca Trubiano on research in the area of building labor ethics and law, specifically interested in forced labor. Aside from research, she works to educate and register students to vote as a member of PennDems, and will be working at the National Constitution Center during the summer of 2023.
Selma Ulm
( Fall 2019- Spring 2021)
Jessica Greene is a Project Director for the Owner Representation firm Seamus Henchy and Associates, currently overseeing the construction of the Harlem Meer Center in Central Park for the Central Park Conservancy. A recent graduate of the Masters of Architecture Program at the University of Pennsylvania, she worked as a Research Assistant to Associate Professor Franca Trubiano in the area of building labor ethics and conducted thesis research on construction safety planning during design. Prior to Penn, Jessica worked in Field Operations for Suffolk Construction Company on multiple high-rise commercial construction projects. She is deeply invested bridging the fields of design and construction to ensure safe, well-paid, and creative work in the building industry.
Jay Greene
(Fall 2021 -
Rami Kanafani is a second year doctoral student in history and theory of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been working with Dr. Trubiano as a research assistant for the past year. Rami’s interests center on historicizing the relationship of architecture and plants, focusing on the architectural production of interior environments that housed plants from World War II up until today.
Rami Kanafani
(Summer 2020)
Sage is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences majoring in Environmental Studies. Her research with Dr. Trubiano, entitled “Addressing Social Justice and Environmental Health in the Construction Industry: Polymers, Toxins, and Philadelphia Energy Solutions,” aims to raise awareness to the design community about the lifecycle implications of architectural plastics, from raw material extraction to waste phases, using Philadelphia as a case study. By tracing the material life cycles of manufactured fossil fuel derived products from a local refinery and petrochemical plants, we demonstrate that these sites present risks to the surrounding community and environment.