Duany & Plater-Zyberk, Inc

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Duany & Plater-Zyberk, Inc. American architects, known as D/PZ, founded (1980) by Andres Duany (1949– ) and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk (1950– ) when they left Arquitectonica. Believing that congested, unsatisfactory, fragmented suburbs and disintegrating urban centres of the USA were the results of zoning and subdivision ordinances ‘zealously administered by planning departments’, they proposed Traditional Neighbourhood Development Ordinance (TNDO) to encourage a more workable and rational urbanism, bringing the needs of daily living within walking distance of residences, reducing the number of journeys made using cars, and conserving land and resources. They designed Seaside, Miami, FL (1978–87), to show what could be done on a 32-hectare (80-acre) site, drawing on vernacular traditions and Classicism for the buildings, and their experiment was hailed as an exemplar of the New Urbanism, but predictably denounced by Modernists as ‘historicist’ and ‘escapist’. To those critics some have observed that if D/PZ's designs such as Seaside and the more urban Crab Creek, FL (1988), are ‘historicist’ and ‘escapist’ then we should all have more Historicism and Escapism. Other works include Windsor House, Windsor, FL (1990), and Tahiti Beach House, Coral Gables, FL (1991). Their Towns and Town-Making Principles was published in 1991.

Bibliography

Katz (1994);
Kreiger&Lennertz (eds.)(1991);
Papadakis & Watson (eds.) (1990)