At $2,400 a pop, high rises get a touch of highbrow taste

Next time you take a seat in one of the high-rise dormitories, it might be on a $2,400 piece of contemporary art.

In each high rise, there are about 10 "Womb Chairs," love seat-style chairs made of cushioned foam.

Designed by the famous Finnish architect Eero Saarinen in 1948, the chairs range in color from crimson to mint green and cost about $2,400 each, according to Design Within Reach, a furniture Web site that sells these pieces.

Penn has been purchasing these chairs since 2002, when it began a series of high-rise renovations costing over $150 million.

And though the University is preparing to perform additional renovations through August 2009 - eventually costing $106.5 million - students remain generally unaware of the artistic masterpieces that surround them daily.

"I had no idea," Wharton freshman Casey Lim said of the chairs' artistic and monetary value.

"Unfortunately, people focus more on the necessities like good plumbing and elevators, and so they forget to appreciate the ambience," he said.

But some still appreciate the University's purchase.

"The armrests are nice, and there's a lot of space to curl up," Wharton senior Roanna Kong said.

Additional notable - and pricey - pieces of furniture include the $500 "Diamond Chair," designed by Italian artist Harry Bertoia, in each high-rise suite and the $1,300 Brno Tubular chairs in Harrison's Mezzanine Lounge, designed by German architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

And as the University gears up for May - when renovations on the high rises, partially completed over the summer but paused because of the school year, will resume - the high rises are set to continue on their artistic developments.

Sue Smith, spokeswoman for College Housing, said summer renovations will bring "more modern, stainless-steel kitchen fixtures to help further the artistic sensibility in the high rises."

And for one Penn professor, these renovations make thematic sense.

The high rises "were supposed to be modern skyscrapers," Art History professor David Brownlee said: "If we don't support good design, who the heck will?"

Brownlee added that renovations have been successful in greatly improved the artistic appeal of the high rises.

After repairing the floors, kitchens and plumbing systems to half of Harnwell College House this past summer, the University will spend $34.5 million after Commencement Day to finish renovating the rest of Harnwell and do the same work to Harrison College House's top 12 floors, Housing and Conference Services spokeswoman Dana Matkevich.

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