Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (born December 20, 1950 in
Bryn Mawr, PennsylvaniaBryn Mawr is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
and
urban plannerAn urban planner is a professional who works in the field of urban planning for the purpose of maximizing the effectiveness of a community's land use and infrastructure. They formulate plans for the development and management of urban and suburban areas, typically analyzing land use compatibility...
based in
Miami, FloridaMiami is a major coastal city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. With an estimated population of 424,662 in 2007, Miami is the largest city within the Miami metropolitan area, which is the...
. A member of the first class of women to graduate from
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
, she received her undergraduate degree in
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
and
urban planningUrban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities...
from Princeton and her master's degree in architecture from the
Yale School of ArchitectureThe Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. It is generally considered one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the world.- History :...
.
In 1977, Plater-Zyberk was co-founder of the Miami firm
ArquitectonicaArquitectonica is an avant-garde architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and planning corporation headquartered in Miami, Florida, United States with international offices in 9 other cities...
, with her husband
Andrés DuanyAndrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960...
, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Laurinda Hope Spear, and Hervin Romney.
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (born December 20, 1950 in
Bryn Mawr, PennsylvaniaBryn Mawr is a census-designated place in Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, just west of Philadelphia along Lancaster Avenue and the border with Delaware County...
) is an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architectAn architect is trained and licensed in planning and designing buildings, and participates in supervising the construction of a building. Etymologically, architect derives from the Latin architectus, itself derived from the Greek arkhitekton , i.e. chief builder...
and
urban plannerAn urban planner is a professional who works in the field of urban planning for the purpose of maximizing the effectiveness of a community's land use and infrastructure. They formulate plans for the development and management of urban and suburban areas, typically analyzing land use compatibility...
based in
Miami, FloridaMiami is a major coastal city in southeastern Florida, in the United States. Miami is the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida. With an estimated population of 424,662 in 2007, Miami is the largest city within the Miami metropolitan area, which is the...
. A member of the first class of women to graduate from
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
, she received her undergraduate degree in
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
and
urban planningUrban, city, and town planning is the integration of the disciplines of land use planning and transport planning to explore a very wide range of aspects of the built and social environments of urbanized municipalities and communities...
from Princeton and her master's degree in architecture from the
Yale School of ArchitectureThe Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. It is generally considered one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the world.- History :...
.
In 1977, Plater-Zyberk was co-founder of the Miami firm
ArquitectonicaArquitectonica is an avant-garde architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and planning corporation headquartered in Miami, Florida, United States with international offices in 9 other cities...
, with her husband
Andrés DuanyAndrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960...
, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Laurinda Hope Spear, and Hervin Romney. Arquitectonica became famous for its signature style, a dramatic, expressive 'high tech'
modernismModernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes both a set of cultural tendencies and an array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society in the late...
. The firm's Atlantis Condominium was featured prominently in the opening credits of "
Miami ViceMiami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The show became noted for its heavy integration of music and visual effects to tell a story. The series starred Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in...
."
Duany and Plater-Zyberk founded Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (
DPZDPZ is a three-letter acronym which may refer either to:* Dominos Pizza, based on its Stock Ticker, DPZ.* discontinuous permafrost zone - a term from soil science.* Duany Plater Zyberk & Company - an American architectural firm....
) in 1980, with its headquarters in Miami. DPZ became a leader in the national movement called the
New UrbanismNew Urbanism is an urban design movement, which promotes walkable neighborhoods that contain a range of housing and job types. It arose in the United States in the early 1980s and continues to reform many aspects of real estate development and urban planning....
and distinguished itself by designing traditional towns and retrofitting livable downtowns into existing suburbs. The firm first received international recognition in the 1980s as the designer of
Seaside, FloridaSeaside is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida panhandle in Walton County, roughly midway between Fort Walton Beach and Panama City. It was founded by builder/developer Robert Davis in 1979 on land that he had inherited from his grandfather...
, and has completed designs and codes for over two hundred new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization projects.
Plater-Zyberk began teaching at the
University of MiamiThe University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 in the city of Coral Gables, Florida within Miami-Dade County...
School of Architecture in 1979, starting what became a long and successful association. Having created a graduate program in Suburb and Town Design in 1988, she continued to explore contemporary issues in city growth and reconstruction with students and faculty. She has been dean of the university's School of Architecture since 1995, and as dean she hired the architect
Léon KrierLéon Krier is an architect, architectural theorist and urban planner. From the late 1970s onwards Krier has been one of the most influential neo-traditional architects and planners. He is best known for his development of Poundbury 'village' in Dorchester, UK for the Prince of Wales...
to design his first public building in Florida for the school of architecture (his only other buildings in America are his former house at Seaside and a meeting hall in the Duany Plater-Zyberk resort of Windsor). She has also served as director of the university's Center for Urban Community and Design, organizing and promoting numerous design exercises to the benefit of communities throughout South Florida.
For ten years, Plater-Zyberk was a Trustee of Princeton, where she chaired the university's Building Committee during a strong period of building and expansion. Architects hired during her tenure on the Building Committee included Princeton graduate
Robert VenturiRobert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect and founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Robert Venturi and his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown, are regarded among the most influential architects of the twentieth century, both through their architecture...
, internationally famous
Frank GehryFrank Owen Gehry, CC is a Canadian Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
, and the traditional architect
Demetri PorphyriosDemetri Porphyrios is a Greek architect and author who currently practices architecture in London as principal of the firm Porphyrios Associates. In addition to practice and writing, Porphyrios has held a number of teaching positions in the United States, the United Kingdom and Greece. He is...
. Porphyrios designed the Gothic Whitman College, the first in a series of new Gothic buildings to be built in the historic center of the university.
Plater-Zyberk is a founder and emeritus board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism, which was established in 1993. She has been a visiting professor at many major North American schools of architecture, has been awarded several honorary doctorates and awards, and lectures frequently. Her recent publications include "The New Civic Art" and "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream."
Further reading
- Duany, Andrés, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck (2000). Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream. New York: North Point Press. ISBN 0-86547-606-3
- Duany, Andrés, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Robert Alminana (2003). The New Civic Art: Elements of Town Planning. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. ISBN 0-8478-2186-2
- Lombard, Joanna (2005). The Architecture of Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company. New York: Rizzoli International Publications. ISBN 0-8478-2600-7
External links