Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (born December 20, 1950 in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
) is an American
architect
and urban planner
of Polish
aristocratic roots based in Miami, Florida
. She received her undergraduate degree in architecture
and urban planning
from Princeton and her master's degree in architecture from the Yale School of Architecture
.
In 1977, Plater-Zyberk was co-founder of the Miami firm Arquitectonica
, with her husband Andrés Duany
, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Laurinda Hope Spear, and Hervin Romney. Arquitectonica became famous for its signature style, a dramatic, expressive "high-tech" modernism
. The firm's Atlantis Condominium
was featured prominently in the opening credits of Miami Vice
.
Duany and Plater-Zyberk founded Duany Plater Zyberk & Company
(DPZ) in 1980, with its headquarters in Miami. DPZ became a leader in the national movement called the New Urbanism
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, Florida
, 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 Miami
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 Krier
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. In the Fall of 2008, Plater-Zyberk was tapped into Iron Arrow Honor Society, the highest Honor attained at the University of Miami.
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 Venturi
, internationally famous Frank Gehry
, and the traditional architect Demetri Porphyrios
. 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. In 2001, she and Duany were awarded the Vincent Scully Prize
by the National Building Museum
in recognition of their contributions to the American built environment. Her recent publications include "The New Civic Art" and "Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream."
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
Bryn Mawr from Welsh for "big hill") 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 American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
and urban planner
Urban planner
An urban planner or city planner is a professional who works in the field of urban planning/land use planning for the purpose of optimizing the effectiveness of a community's land use and infrastructure. They formulate plans for the development and management of urban and suburban areas, typically...
of Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
aristocratic roots based in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. She received her undergraduate degree in architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and urban planning
Urban planning
Urban planning incorporates areas such as economics, design, ecology, sociology, geography, law, political science, and statistics to guide and ensure the orderly development of settlements and communities....
from Princeton and her master's degree in architecture from the Yale School of Architecture
Yale School of Architecture
The Yale School of Architecture is one of the constituent professional schools of Yale University. It is generally considered to be one of the most prestigious architecture schools in the world.- History :...
.
In 1977, Plater-Zyberk was co-founder of the Miami firm Arquitectonica
Arquitectonica
Arquitectonica is an international architecture, landscape architecture, interior design and urban planning corporation headquartered in Miami, Florida, United States in the Coconut Grove neighborhood, with offices in ten other cities throughout the world...
, with her husband Andrés Duany
Andrés Duany
Andrés Duany is an American architect and urban planner.Duany was born in New York City but grew up in Cuba until 1960. He attended The Choate School and received his undergraduate degree in architecture and urban planning from Princeton University...
, Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Laurinda Hope Spear, and Hervin Romney. Arquitectonica became famous for its signature style, a dramatic, expressive "high-tech" modernism
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
. The firm's Atlantis Condominium
Atlantis Condominium
The Atlantis Condominium is a landmark 20-story luxury condominium in Miami, Florida. It was built between 1980-1982 and was designed by the architectural firm Arquitectonica. The building is known for its glass facade and primary color scheme and the 5-story palm court which is cut out of the...
was featured prominently in the opening credits of Miami Vice
Miami Vice
Miami Vice is an American television series produced by Michael Mann for NBC. The series starred Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as two Metro-Dade Police Department detectives working undercover in Miami. It ran for five seasons on NBC from 1984–1989...
.
Duany and Plater-Zyberk founded Duany Plater Zyberk & Company
Duany Plater Zyberk & Company
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company is a Miami, Florida-based architecture and town planning firm founded in 1980 by the husband-and-wife team of Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk. It is one of the dominant firms specializing in new urbanist town planning in the United States and other countries,...
(DPZ) in 1980, with its headquarters in Miami. DPZ became a leader in the national movement called the New Urbanism
New urbanism
New 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 has gradually continued to reform many aspects of real estate development, urban planning, and municipal land-use...
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, Florida
Seaside, Florida
Seaside is an unincorporated master-planned community on the Florida panhandle in Walton County, between Panama City Beach and Destin. The town has become the topic of slide lectures in architectural schools and in housing-industry magazines, and is visited by design professionals from all over the...
, 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 Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
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 Krier
Léon Krier
Léon 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...
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. In the Fall of 2008, Plater-Zyberk was tapped into Iron Arrow Honor Society, the highest Honor attained at the University of Miami.
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 Venturi
Robert Venturi
Robert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major figures in the architecture of the twentieth century...
, internationally famous Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
, and the traditional architect Demetri Porphyrios
Demetri Porphyrios
Demetri Porphyrios is a Greek architect and author who currently practises 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. In 2001, she and Duany were awarded the Vincent Scully Prize
Vincent Scully Prize
The Vincent Scully Prize was established in 1999 to recognize exemplary practice, scholarship or criticism in architecture, historic preservation and urban design...
by the National Building Museum
National Building Museum
The National Builders Museum, in Washington, D.C., United States, is a museum of "architecture, design, engineering, construction, and urban planning"...
in recognition of their contributions to the American built environment. 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