University of Miami School of Architecture Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
Named 2008 Laureate of the Richard H. Driehaus Prize
by the University of Notre Dame
 

University of Miami School of Architecture Distinguished Professor and Dean Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and her partner and adjunct faculty member Andres Duany have been named the 2008 Driehaus Laureates. The Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture, which was founded in 2003, is the most significant recognition for classicism in the contemporary built environment and is awarded annually to an outstanding architect or firm whose work applies the principles of classicism, including sensitivity to the historic continuum, the fostering of community, and the impact to the built and natural environment in contemporary contexts.  The Prize is presented annually by the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture.  Plater-Zyberk and Duany are founders of the Congress for the New Urbanism and partners in the Miami firm of Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company.

Plater-Zyberk and Duany are being honored with the award for both their architecture and urban planning. They are widely recognized as leaders of New Urbanism, a movement that promotes alternative to suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment, and advocates the universal and time-tested principles of traditional urbanism.  Plater-Zyberk and Duany’s work has exerted an influence on the practice and direction of urban planning and development worldwide through their commitment to research, education and practice.  Plater-Zyberk has been a faculty member at the University of Miami since 1979 and has engaged students and faculty in numerous regional projects of civic improvement. Duany was a full time faculty member from 1974 to 1979 and continues an ad-hoc involvement with the School. The couple has shared their research and professional experience in several significant publications, including Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream and The New Civic Art.  Their firm, leading numerous new urbanist collaborators, has completed designs for almost 300 new towns, regional plans, and community revitalization projects.  Their firm was also instrumental in the creation of the Traditional Neighborhood Development Ordinance (TND) and the Smart Code, regulatory prescriptions for pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use, compact urban growth, which have been incorporated into the zoning codes of municipalities across the country.

Richard H. Driehaus, Founder and Chairman of Driehaus Capital Management, commented: “The Richard H. Driehaus Prize was created to celebrate classicism in the contemporary world.  As champions of the New Urbanism movement, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk and Andres Duany have promoted the value system that defines classical architecture. Their body of work emphasizes community and context which are the underpinnings of classical design.”

Michael Lykoudis, Dean of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture, said: “With each passing year, the Richard H. Driehaus Prize laureates continue to further an important architectural dialogue. They show the relevance and significance of classical notions in a modern architectural vernacular. They show that classicism is about being inclusive, not exclusive. It’s about being universal, while respecting local cultures and creating solid foundations that take into account form and function.”

Recipients were selected by a jury comprised of Richard H. Driehaus, Founder and Chairman of Driehaus Capital Management; Michael Lykoudis, Dean of the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture; Elizabeth Dowling, Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture; Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic for The New Yorker; David M. Schwarz, Principal of David M. Schwarz Architectural Services, Inc; and Adele Chatfield-Taylor, President of the American Academy in Rome.

For more information,
contact Carolyn White, Director of Public Relations
School of Architecture, University of Miami
305-284-5002
cwhite@miami.edu