Person standing indoors points at a large wall display of printed design boards and diagrams while holding notes. Several architectural and urban design images are mounted on the wall, and two seated viewers are visible below, looking up at the presentation.

Kossman Design Thesis Award & Lectures

The History

The Paul M. Kossman Endowment for Excellence was established by the late Paul Kossman, Kossman Development Corporation, and Paul’s wife, Agnes Kossman, to provide support for lectureships and student awards.

Paul Kossman earned his degree in architectural engineering from Penn State in 1949. As a proud alumnus, Kossman envisioned this award and lecture series to enrich the Architecture program at Penn State.

The endowment supports a thesis competition and lecture series in the Kossman name, which began in 1990 and has become a coveted award among fifth-year architecture students at Penn State.

Concept illustration of an urban sidewalk featuring oversized typewriter‑key benches arranged along the curb, spelling “Sweet Auburn.” Stylized figures walk, sit, and move through the space, with arrows indicating pedestrian flow. The background shows a black‑and‑white city street scene with buildings, signs, and trees, overlaid with graphic textures and design annotations.

Kossman Senior Design Award

The Paul M. Kossman Senior Design Award in Architecture is presented to the most deserving fifth-year student for excellence in design based on their senior thesis and as recommended by the faculty and the jury to the head of the department.

2026 Kossman Finalist Excerpts

Urban analysis board combining historical context, mapping diagrams, and design proposals for Auburn Avenue and I-85/75. The layout includes archival images on the left, a layered map and circulation diagram in the center, and sections titled ‘The Existing,’ ‘Narrative Forces,’ ‘Drivers,’ and ‘Result’ on the right, showing a streetscape intervention with colorful storefront elements.
Two side-by-side conceptual streetscape renderings. The left shows a corner building wrapped in a translucent orange screen with portrait imagery and colorful panels at street level, with pedestrians moving along a pink-tinted roadway. The right shows a small, brightly colored pavilion shaped like a megaphone near a large mural, with people gathering and walking around it.
Two side-by-side conceptual streetscape renderings. The left shows a storefront with colorful, adjustable facade panels and outdoor seating elements along a pink-tinted street. The right shows an outdoor pavilion with patterned walls creating a small gathering space, with people walking and sitting nearby.
Annotated urban plan map showing a long corridor highlighted across a city grid. Red concentric circles mark key nodes, blue dashed lines indicate movement paths, and numbered points label locations along the route. Side panels include headings like ‘Blocking Notation,’ ‘Narrative Forces,’ and ‘Street Scenes,’ with small reference photos and a legend explaining symbols such as actors, conflict, and stage dominance.
Comprehensive architectural presentation board combining research, maps, diagrams, and design renderings for a project titled ‘Connection Through Permeability.’ It includes site plans, material studies, circulation diagrams, and perspective illustrations of a brick campus environment with perforated walls and community spaces.
Architectural presentation board titled ‘Parti and Site Plan’ showing diagrams, maps, and renderings of a border-related campus design. Elements include phased diagrams, a vertical site map along the U.S.–Mexico border near Nogales, a ‘Track System’ circulation diagram, and perspective renderings with colored pathways, large animal sculptures, and infrastructure spanning rail lines.
Architectural concept board exploring nuclear waste, long-term consequences, and speculative design. It combines diagrams of waste storage, annotated sectional drawings, a narrative sequence about future interpretation, and a large rendering of a red, mound-like structure spanning rail tracks.”
Three-panel architectural presentation showing a physical model installation, a red-highlighted site map, and a close-up model detail with small scaled figures.