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Richard H. Penner

Richard H. Penner

Richard H. Penner

Professor

Facilities Management, Planning & Design
248 Statler Hall
Phone: 607-255-8301
Email: rhp2@cornell.edu

Primary Research Focus

Planning and design of hotels, resorts, and conference centers

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Professional Biography

Professor Richard H. Penner has been a member of the faculty of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell since 1970 where he brings together experience in both architecture and hotel management, teaching courses in hotel planning, development and interior design. He graduated from Cornell University with bachelor and master degrees in architecture and is an author of three books: Hotel Design, Planning, and Development (W.W. Norton, 2001), Conference Center Planning and Design (Whitney, 1991), and Hotel Planning and Design (Whitney, 1985), as well as numerous articles and book chapters. In 1992 he was honored by Hospitality Design magazine with its Platinum Circle Award for his contributions to hospitality design as an author and teacher. At Cornell, Penner has been deeply involved with the design and operation of campus facilities, serving as chairman of university committees on campus planning, parking and transportation, residence life and student unions. In addition, he has served as Director of Graduate Studies, including coordinating our MMH program with the Cornell-Nanyang Institute in Singapore, and chaired the university faculty advisory board on study abroad, and the faculty committee providing academic oversight of the Australian International Hotel School (AIHS) in Canberra. Penner’s research has focused on planning criteria for different types of lodging properties including detailed comparative space allocation standards for all public and back-of-house areas. These have become benchmarks against which architects and developers measure the efficiency of new hospitality projects. He has presented seminars on development, hotel planning and interior design throughout the world. For several years he was the conference coordinator for the design seminars at the European Meeting on Hotel Interior Design in Rimini, Italy. He has chaired four Hospitality Design Roundtables sponsored by the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell. He spent year-long sabbatical leaves with Hirsch Bedner and Associates, Santa Monica, CA, a leading hotel interior design firm, and the architecture division of Starwood Hotels Worldwide, White Plains, NY. In the consulting area, Penner has concentrated on planning and design issues for hotels, resorts, and conference centers, and other hospitality-related facilities.

Courses Taught

Academic Degrees

  • M.S., Cornell University
  • B.Arch., Cornell University