December 18: Andres Duany was recognized yesterday for DPZ's contributions to the revitalization of Fifth Avenue South in Naples, Florida. Commemorating the plan's 10th anniversary, city officials awarded Duany and 9 other recipients with brick pavers to be inlaid in the city's newly created South Cultural Walkway, which connects the Sugden Theatre to the von Liebig Art Center--both products of DPZs plan.

Once a run-down collection of single-story buildings and virtually no pedestrian activity, Fifth Avenue South is now a six block main street full of activity within its 2-3, story mixed-use, civic, and cultural buildings.

December 12: The Hertfordshire Guide to Growth, a regional plan for Hertfordshire County, England, is now available as a downloadable pdf. DPZ Principal, Andres Duany, recently presented the plan at a Hertfordshire University event which drew approximately 100 people, including politicians, planners, and members of the general public -- who helped shape the plan during a design charrette held during the summer of 2008.

The official print Hertforshire Guide to Growth book will be available in early 2009 via amazon and other online bookshops. Check back here for news regarding its official release.

December 2: On Tuesday, December 9th, DPZ Charlotte will be conducting a 3 hour Light Imprint workshop from 9AM-12Noon as part of the Ecobuild conference in Washinton D.C.

For conference info:
http://www.aececobuildfall.com/

November 18: Saturday, November 22nd at the Hampstead Town Square, The Hampstead Institute presents an evening with Town Planner Andrés Duany. Andrés will deliver a lecture entitled "Smart & Sustainable Growth in the River Region." A Town Square party will follow with Hors d'oeuvre and live music. Tickets are $10 and available at the Hampstead sales gallery.

November 14: The 129-acre Village of Hendrix, part of the DPZ led Hendrix College 2015 Plan, is now under construction. With a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly town attached to the campus, Hendrix will be able to offer a more complete and varied college experience to a wider pool of prospective students and faculty members, or as the new home for alumni seeking a familiar intellectual environment in which to live.

October 31: From 5:30-7:00pm on November 5th DPZ Principal Andres Duany will be the featured speaker for Charlotte's Civic By Design Forum. Andres will be discussing transportation and the livable city. He will be introduced by John Norquist, President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). The event will be held at the Levine Museum of the New South, 200 E 7th St., Charlotte. It is free and open to the public. Reservations, however, are required. Please contact Brenda@dpz.com.

The following morning, Andres will be discussing sustainable transportation networks at the Congress for the New Urbanism's International Transportation Summit. For more information, please visit the CNU website.

October 9: Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, presented the Light Imprint initiative to the CNU-Illinois chapter's state conference.

October 8: Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, will present "Lean, Grean, Quality of Life Machine:Twentieth Century Urban Planner John Nolen, his Asheville Plan and Today's Urbanism" on Thursday, October 23rd. The Event is hosted by AIA Asheville and will start at 6:00pm at Lord Auditorium, Pack Memorial Library, 67 Haywood Street, Asheville.

While in Asheville, Tom Low will also lead an AIA workshop on Friday, October 24th. The workshop will cover the previous night's presentation in more detail, and take place at the Grove Arcade Conference Room, Grove Arcade, 1 Page Avenue, Asheville. To RSVP, send an email to rsvp@aiaasheville.org. For more information, contact brenda@dpz.com, or call 704-948-8141.

September 15: Beachtown, a project designed by DPZ is Galveston, Texas was hit by the eye of Hurricane Ike. However, thanks to hurricane fortified construction, and first floor panels designed to "wash away" during a storm, the homes and buildings of Beachtown are still standing and structurally intact. Visit the website here for more information and updates as they become available.

August 30: Led by Tom Low and Guy Pearlman, DPZ Charlotte conducted a Light Imprint workshop for more than 30 design professionals, planners and developers in Nashville, Tennessee.  The group received an in-depth presentation of the Light Imprint planning and development strategy that emphasizes sustainability, pedestrian-oriented design and increased environmental and infrastructure efficiency while reducing a community's anticipated construction expenses.  

Attendees visited The Assembly at Monteagle, TN as part of the workshop and received a hands-on look at this sustainable community that is featured in the LI Handbook and Interactive Website. They also learned about the use of LI strategies in the DPZ-designed Lockett development, just approved for Sumner County.

August 18: The first three homes at Brytan, a new 150-acre DPZ designed neighborhood in Gainesville, Florida, have earned LEED Silver status by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The homes are the first in Alachua County to have been certified using the LEED rating system. The homes were built by Toney Sullivan Construction and Brice Development, Inc.

“The U.S. Green Building Council is proud to help celebrate Brytan’s commitment to greener living,” said Michelle Moore, Senior Vice President of Policy & Market Development, U.S. Green Building Council. “Their leadership – as demonstrated in these Silver Certified homes- is at the national forefront of quality; and their example can help us all to live better by reducing our environment footprint, cutting our utility bills, and coming home to a healthier place to live.”

For more information, visit Brytan's homepage here.

 

August 4: DPZ Central in collaboration with DPZ Europe and an international team of architects and experts have planned a new town in Bolshaya Izhora, outside of St. Petersburg. The charrette, the first one for DPZ in Russia, was organized by the Joint Stock Company “Orange” in May of 2008, and was led by DPZ Principal Galina Tahchieva. Novaja Izhora represents the emerging Russian economy’s investment in its domestic infrastructure and its increased international appeal. Likewise, the growing Russian upper and middle classes are aspiring to strengthen their ancestral connection to the countryside. Bolshaya’s New Urbanist master plan offers an alternative to the recent scattering of commercial centers and gated cottage clusters being built around St. Petersburg’s growing periphery.

With a first phase of 50 hectares along the Gulf of Finland, the new resort town will include a mixture of recreational, commercial and residential uses centered on a resort hotel, spa, conference center and a marina. Positioned in the Lomonosovskii region on the principal 2-lane highway west from the City, just off of the rail line, and nearly adjacent to a newly constructed beltway road, Novaja Izhora will be well connected to Saint Petersburg. There exists a series of historic villages along the gulf front built around several palaces, including Peterhof and Oranienbaum, that offers a regional framework into which this project can logically fit, with the hotel serving as the community’s focal point as the palaces once did.

August 1: Hamsptead, a 400-acre new town designed by DPZ and developed by City Loft Corporation in Montgomery, Alabama, Has opened its sales office on Hampstead High Street. For more information, contact City Loft Corporation or visit the Hampstead website.

July 10: Laura Hall and former DPZ'er Robert Alminana, of Hall Alminana Inc. are pleased to announce the creation of the Smart Growth School. For more information, including upcoming classes, please visit the Smart Growth School website.

July 3: DPZ recently concluded a regional planning charrette in at the University of Herftordshire in Hatfield, England. A joint public/private venture, the DPZ team was charged with designing sustainable growth models for Hertfordshire County, which as part of the recently released East of England plan, is now designated to absorb 82,300 new homes by 2021.

June 18: Heulebrug, located in Knokke-Heist, Belgium, was awarded as the Best New Garden City by A Vision Of Europe and the Fondation Pour L’Architecture's Prix Rotthier pour la Reconstruction de La Ville. Heulebrug, a 26-hectare neighborhood extension of Knockke-Heist was designed by DPZ with Leon Krier in 2000.

June 4: Mike Lydon presented "Three Generations of Environmental Urban Design in DPZ's Practice" at the 46th International Making Cities Livable Conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

June 3: The harbor at Lost Rabbit, a 260-acre TND outside of Jackson, Mississippi, is now under construction.

June 3: The Village at Hendrix College is now under construction. The first Hendrix charrette was in 1995, when the idea of the Village was originally conceived. DPZ returned to Hendrixin 2005 to refine the the college master plan and the village.  Under the leadership of President Tim Cloyd the college has done a superb job implementing the plan. Bob Chapman, a longtime TND builder is the developer of the Village, with Lew Oliver as the town urbanist.  The first buildings will be four-story mixed use structures that will have storefronts on the ground floor and student dormitories above.  The village will nicely complement the campus work already completed.

June 2: Tom Low, Principal of DPZ Charlotte, is teaching the Summer Semester in Rome, Italy for the Graduate Program of the University of Miami for two weeks in June.  This Summer Session is the Retrofit Studio of the New Urbanism Graduate Program.  This Program semester in Rome is used to introduce students to the city, to document public spaces, to study urban details, to visit places offering retrofit lessons, to understand the value of 20th century interventions in the historic city and its surrounding territories, and to evaluate the performance of difficult metropolitan conditions.  In addition, Low is to assist students with project assignments and will introduce students to DPZ Charlotte’s Light Imprint Initiative, the Learning Cottage Initiative, and technique lessons on early-twentieth century town planners including John Nolen.  Students will conduct general research, walking fieldtrips and design documentation particular to Rome and the region using the rural to urban transect. The studio is located in a fabulous Palazzo at Via della Gatta in the historic center of Rome.  In addition to teaching duties, Low will tour Rome and the vicinity with family and friends for an additional week.

May 29: Andrés Duany will be leading the SmartCode Workshop in Denver, Colorado from May 29th-31st. For more information, click here.

May 29: Guy Pearlman, Project Manager, presents “Going Green: Public Transit Sustainability and Integrating Sustainability with Urban Design: The Light imprint Initiative” along with Alan Powell of the US Environmental and Protection Agency and Elizabeth Martin of the FTA. The presentation is part of the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) Region IV Conference – The Routes to Success... Today and Beyond, in Atlanta, Georgia.

May 26: Click here to watch Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk discuss the University of Miami's new graduate real estate program.

May 23: DPZ recently participated in an eight-day design charrette for the Southlands’ 531-acre site in Tsawwassen, British Columbia south of Vancouver.  The project initiates landmark innovative design in an attempt to seamlessly integrate different intensities of agriculture at all scales of urbanism within compact, complete and walkable neighborhoods.  Working upon a historically contentious site, DPZ designed two separate plans. Each guarantees at least 40% of the land for agricultural production, allocates a maximum of one third for development at an average gross density of 12 units /acre, and preserves the remainder of the site for additional open space and amenities.

Assisted by Southlands Community Planning Team, and a group of local and international consultants, DPZ’s design efforts revolved around the concept of “agricultural urbanism,” self-sufficient food production integrated into the community’s design without buffers or boundaries.  This innovative type of planning will set a precedent within North America as a model of agricultural sustainability.  It also proposes to employ a ‘closed-loop’ system considering all ecological processes such as composting, greywater recycling, solar building and energy conservation. All residents living within the neighborhoods will have the option to cultivate a part of the land whether at the scale of one-acre plots, smaller spaces within shared community gardens or in private kitchen gardens.  All dwellings will be within walking distance of a mixed-use town center and high street organized around an agricultural precinct.  This precinct will include a farmers market, a cooking school, and a multi-purpose building which will house a conference center and theater facilities.  BC’s Kwantlen University will contribute a branch dedicated to agricultural production, community outreach and education.   The town center is well-positioned to become a dynamic hub for nearby existing neighborhoods and towns—a place where residents and visitors can gather to produce, sell, eat and celebrate local fare.

May 12: Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk has been appointed by President George Bush to serve a four year term on on the United States Commission of Fine Arts. Joined by three other nominees, Plater-Zyberk will provide "expert advice to the President, Congress and the heads of departments and agencies of the Federal and District of Columbia governments on matters of design and aesthetics, as they affect the Federal interest and preserve the dignity of the nation's capital." Click here for more information on the Commission of Fine Arts.

May 12: Ruskin Heights, a 31-acre infill neighborhood in Fayetteville, Arkansas is now under construction. Ruskin Heights is being developed by Ward Davis, Morgan Hooker and Dirk Van Veen, and was designed by DPZ in 2006. The town square, pictured below, is quickly taking shape.

 

May 8: Tom Low, Director of DPZ's Charlotte office, will be speaking to the Congress of Residential Architecture's(CORA) Charlotte Chapter about green community planning on Friday, May 16. The event begins at 12:00pm at Belle Acres, 3033 South Boulevard.

May 7: Tom Low, Guy Pearlman, Nora Black and Monica Carney of DPZ Charlotte will present The Light Imprint Initiative: Integrating Sustainability with Urban Development on May 14 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The event is sponsored by the USGBC Charlotte Chapter. Details below.

May 14, 11:30 am - 1:30 am

Hal Marshall Center, 700 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC

Please RSVP by May 12: usgbccharlottersvp@gmail.com

May 2: Marina Khoury, Director of Town Planning for DPZ's Washington D.C. office, was recently a Montgomery County (MD) Planning Board Excellence in Planning Speaker. Marina presented the Miami 21 SmartCode, which is the largest known application of a form-based code. Please click here to view a video of Marina's presentation, which covers the Code's organization, major elements, mechanisms and intents, and public process.

April 26: Schooner Bay, a 220-acre resort village by Lindroth Development and designed by DPZ, is now under construction. For more information, please contact Orjan Lindroth.

April 16: Civic By Design is partnering with the Charlotte Chapter of the US Green Building Council and the Sierra Club for Charlotte Clean and Green.  This is a full week-end of exciting events scheduled for Friday through Monday April 18  - 21 on the Central Campus of CPCC.  More than a dozen organizations across the city and county are collaborating to launch the first annual Charlotte Clean and Green (CC&G), an annual community-wide event designed to inspire, educate, and help you practice living more Green in your everyday life. This unprecedented event is more than passive education; it will provide an entertaining and attractive setting for you and your family to gain specific knowledge on making life changes to help the environment that are easy and economically smart.

Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, will be leading two sessions: Integrating Sustainability with Urban Design: The Light Imprint Initiative happening Friday, April 18, 3:30PM. The other session, entitled How Green Is Your Neighborhood, will take place Saturday, April 19 10:00AM.

To register and to see the full schedule of events go to:
http://www.charlottecleanandgreen.com/index.htm

March 26: Hamsptead, a 400-acre new town designed by DPZ and developed by City Loft Corporation in Montgomery, Alabama, is now under construction. For more information, contact City Loft Corporation or visit the Hampstead website.

March 24: The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Award has bestowed East Fraserands, located in Vancouver, B.C, with a National Honor Award for landscape design and urban planning. The award is the CSLA’s most prestigious, as only six projects were given this honour in 2007. East Fraserlands was the only B.C. recipient. The CSLA honor is the fourth award that this riverfront community has garnered over the past year – the East Fraserlands project was previously honoured by the Canadian Institute of Planners, Canadian Urban Institute and Smart Growth BC.

March 11: The Charlotte US Green Building Council and Charlotte Business Journal have awarded DPZ Charlotte with a Green Innovation award for their Light Imprint Initiative.

The 2008 Green Awards event on April 16 will honor those in the Charlotte area who make efforts to incorporate environmentally sustainable practices into their businesses and community work.  

March 11: Cottonwood, a 57-acre suburban mall retofit designed by DPZ and developed by General Growth Properties, is now under construction.

March 8: Guy Pearlman, Project Manager, presents a poster titled “Light imprint: Biomimicry & The Urban Form” in Chapel Hill on March 8, 2008. The presentation is part of the Institute of Biological Engineering (IBE) 2008 Annual Conference – A Platform for Partnership and Progress. The presentation is among numerous presentations on new alternative for bio-fuel and energy sources in addition to break-thorough pharmaceutical and medicinal solutions in the cell and cancer field.

February 27: After long term involvement with the ‘Downcity’ plan in Providence, Rhode Island, DPZ was recognized today in the New York Times. 

Following the mid-century decentralization of Providence’s once vibrant retail district, Downcity’s neo-classical and Italianate mercantile buildings were left vacant for years. Arnold ”Buff” Chace, owner and chief executive of Cornish Associates, a real estate development firm, started to acquire buildings in 1991 after realizing the potential of a Downcity Renaissance. During that same year Chace persuaded Providence’s mayor, Vincent Cianci and the non-profit redevelopment group, Providence Foundation, to hire DPZ for a five day planning forum. 

From that day forth DPZ played a major role in the analysis of Downcity, creating a master plan to revitalize the downtown district as a lively, mixed-use urban center. DPZ participated in two more charrettes taking place in 1994, (after which the master plan was adopted) and 2005.

Using the DPZ master plan as a guiding force, Chace has since invested $80 million dollars renovating eight buildings, which include residential lofts, bookstores, cafes and restaurants.  His work has greatly contributed to Downcity Providence’s urban renaissance. Thomas Deller, Providence’s director of planning and development says, “Here’s a city that has it figured out.”

Chace is also the developer of one of DPZ’s most innovative and successful master plans: the first retrofit of a suburban mall into a town center at Mashpee Commons, located in Mashpee, Massachusetts. 

February 24: One year after the City of Newburgh and LeylandAlliance held a well-attended week-long public charrette on the proposed development of some 30 acres of waterfront land, City officials and LeylandAlliance principals provided a progress report on the project.

At today’s presentation at Mount Saint Mary College’s Hudson Hall, Mayor Nicholas Valentine, City Manager Jean-Ann McGrane, and Lou Marquet, Steve Maun and Howard Kaufman of LeylandAlliance outlined key benchmarks related to zoning and sustainable design, the projected economic impact of the project and the steps required to advance the pre-construction activities to a possible groundbreaking in 2009.

The development is a public/private partnership of the City of Newburgh and LeylandAlliance, an established developer of communities based on the tenets of New Urbanism. Plans for Newburgh Waterfront envision a healthy mix of housing, retail and commercial buildings together with public amenities such as parks and green spaces.

“During the Charrette, the enthusiasm and excitement in the City was incredible,” said the City Manager. “Even though this time of final planning and navigating the approval processes is not nearly as exciting, we want to be sure our residents know the project is proceeding, and that we are on course.”

The 2007 charrette was conducted by Leyland with Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) a world-renown architectural firm with a long track record for planning successful mixed-use projects. Andres Duany, the charismatic leader of the DPZ team, engaged hundreds of Newburgh citizens, city officials and community leaders in a dialogue to craft a shared vision for the Waterfront project, guided by the old-fashioned notion that the most successful cities include neighborhoods for all types of people, accessible retail areas, walkable streets, and wonderful parks and public spaces.

Project plans are advancing in a timely sequence through the required review and approval process, with zoning amendments, a detailed environmental impact statement, and approvals from Federal, State and local authorities being sought. The City is working in a parallel effort to upgrade the sewer infrastructure at the development site, update its own master plan, LWRP, and Harbor Management Plan through its own SEQRA process.

ACCOMPLISHED TO DATE
Milestones achieved by LeylandAlliance and the City of Newburgh over the past year include:

Executed development agreement: In the summer of 2007, Leyland entered into a formal agreement with the City, making the terms of the public/ private working arrangement official and facilitating the beginning of the entitlement process.

Zoning: In July of 2007, Leyland submitted an application for the creation of new zoning in the form of an overlay district. This action requires an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) under the guidelines of New York State’s Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA). Per the SEQRA guidelines, Leyland submitted the Scope of Impacts to be studied in its EIS. In November, the Scope was accepted by the Lead Agency comprised of the City Council and representatives from the Planning Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals and Waterfront Advisory Committee.

Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS): Expected to be submitted to Lead Agency in April. Once reviewed by Lead Agency, a hearing will be scheduled to receive public comment. The goal is to complete the hearing process by summer of 2008 so that the Final EIS can be submitted in the fall. The SEQRA process is anticipated to be completed by year’s end.

Sustainability: In late 2007, the Newburgh Waterfront project was accepted into the LEED-ND pilot program (“Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Neighborhood Development”). This program, sponsored by the U. S. Green Building Council, emphasizes the integration of design and construction elements that create highly sustainable communities. LEED-ND promotes revitalization of existing urban areas, increased energy and water efficiency, improved air quality, reduced automobile dependence, increased walkablity, and best management practices for stormwater management.

Affordable Housing: Affordable housing for low and moderate income families was a recurring theme throughout the public dialogue during the Newburgh Waterfront charrette. In 2007, LeylandAlliance and Habitat for Humanity of Greater Newburgh joined forces with the City of Newburgh to create new workforce and affordable housing. Once approved, the new housing will transform property on East Parmenter and Washington Streets formerly owned by the City into a combination of low and moderately priced homes on a 24-lot site. Current plans, which have received preliminary approval from the Planning Board, call for Habitat for Humanity to build 8 new affordable homes, and for LeylandAlliance to build a mix of “workforce” townhomes and single family residences on the remaining 16 sites. The master plan includes small duplex cottages, town-homes, and small single family homes. Two small parks are included in the plan.

NEXT STEPS
As the Waterfront project gains momentum, a new series of initiatives will be undertaken to move the development closer to reality:

Sewer Upgrade: The Newburgh Waterfront site’s sewer system will be upgraded. A sewer study is slated to begin early this year and the completion of the study will trigger sewer upgrades to begin in 2009.

Approvals for first phase of development: The Phase 1 site plan and architectural designs are targeted for submission to the Planning Board for initial approvals in Spring 2009, with the goal of securing permits in the fall for building Phase I. Construction of the Waterfront Project can get underway once the SEQRA process, rezoning, and remaining approvals are secured and sewer construction is complete.

Groundbreaking: At the end of 2009, the shared goal of LeylandAlliance and the City of Newburgh is to celebrate the groundbreaking for the first phase of the Newburgh Waterfront development.

February 15: Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company collaborated with Local Initiatives Support Coalition and Florida International University (LISC-FIU) to organize a pro-bono one day charrette for the Town Park Village area in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood. Led by Galina Tahchieva, Director of Town Planning, the charrette saw participation from more than 20 volunteers and scores of neighborhood residents.

Overtown, a once thriving African American neighborhood, declined precipitously after the 1960’s introduced Interstate 95 and 395 and FL-806, which physically divide and disconnect the neighborhood from the rest of the city’s urban fabric. Despite its recent history, Overtown has many assets. One, its location between Miami Beach, the growing Jackson Memorial hospital district and the city’s booming downtown position it as good candidate for revitalization. Two, Overtown is well-served by both bus and rail transit, connecting it to the city and region. Three, the neighborhood’s urban fabric remains at a pedestrian-friendly scale and includes an increasingly rare multi-generational population.  Finally, Overtown is home to many of Miami’s historic civic buildings, including many churches, schools, parks and an organic community garden.

Focusing on new housing and retail revitalization, DPZ worked with neighborhood residents and leaders to propose a sustainable approach to redevelopment. This includes, but is not limited to the introduction of an increasingly walkable streetscape, energy efficient buildings, stormwater runoff mitigation strategies and environmentally friendly landscape design.

Specifically, the design team focused on NW 3rd Avenue and NW 17th Street. In addition to proposing new housing units and neighborhood scale retail, the plan enhances the 17th Street connection between Overtown and the medical complex by providing bicycle lanes, expanded sidewalks, shade trees, and a potential trolley shuttle. Another major portion of the plan calls for replacing a superblock (the current Culmer community center) with smaller blocks of DPZ’s innovative and affordable “dovetail” courtyard housing and commercial units. At 20-30 units per acre, dovetail housing units are designed for urbanity, safety and affordability. They also present a more appropriate alternative to large blocks of subsidized apartment units and serve a wide variety of tenants and homeowners – from seniors to families to first time homebuyers.

With an eye on sustainability and a desire to build upon the surrounding momentum of urban redevelopment, DPZ’s proposal is ready for implementation and able to become a “redevelopment model” for other economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Miami.

The Overtown charrette is a part of DPZ’s Initiative for Affordability, which maintains that good design does not have to be out of reach. The initiative includes a wide range of projects and volunteering efforts that include but are not limited to the Dovetail and other courtyard housing typologies, the Katrina cottage, the Learning Cottage, the FEMA housing project and DPZ’s Gulf Coast Recovery work.  

Galina Tahchieva, Director of Town Planning leads the charrette

February 7: Tom Low, Director of Town Planning, Guy Pearlman and Patrick Kelly of DPZ Charlotte, present a seminar, "Integrating Sustainability and New Urbanism: The Light Imprint Initiative" on February 7, 2008. The seminar is part of the 7th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference called "Building Safe, Healthy and Livable Communities” in Washington, DC.

 

November 28: Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk have been named the recipients of the sixth annual Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture, administered by the University of Notre Dame School of Architecture. Committed to education, Plater-Zyberk serves as the Dean of the University of Miami's School of Architecture, where Duany is also an adjunct faculty member.

The Driehaus Prize 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. Duany and Plater-Zyberk, are being honored with the award for both their architecture and urban planning. Duany and Plater-Zyberk are widely recognized as leaders of New Urbanism, a movement that seeks to end suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment.

Architectural and town planning firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (DPZ) has been awarded the “2008 Best in American Living Award” (BALA) from the National Association of Home Builders and Professional Builder magazine.

November 20: DPZ's Amelia Park project, developed by Joel Embry and Michael Antonopoulos, won in the “Best Suburban Smart Growth Neighborhood/Community” category. Amelia Park is a new neighborhood of 106 acres located in the City of Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island, 35 minutes from Jacksonville off the northeast coast of Florida. The award will be presented during the International Builders Show in February 2008.

November 15: An official groundbreaking was held for Ruskin Heights in Fayetteville, Arkansas yesterday. Designed by DPZ, Ruskin Heights is a 28-acre urban infill traditional neighborhood development being developed by Ward Davis, Morgan Hooker and Dirk Van Veen. The project is expected to take five years to complete.

November 11: On November 13th, from 5:30pm- 6:30pm, Tom Low, Director of DPZ's Charlotte Office will lead a Civic By Design forum called "Overcoming Classroom Trailers and Factory Schools."

Post Hurricane Katrina design efforts created the widely popular and successful Katrina Cottage in order to overcome FEMA trailer blight.

Now the Katrina-inspired Learning Cottage Initiative has been created to overcome classroom trailer blight and oversize factory-style schools.  

Learning Cottages are flexible, green, aesthetically pleasing, and cost-effective buildings that meet schools’ demand for additional classrooms. If built with panelized construction techniques, these attractive, permanent structures can be built for approximately half the per-square-foot cost of typical school buildings. Several Learning Cottages can form the nucleus of a school campus.  The civic by design of the school campus, enable Learning Cottages to be embedded in neighborhoods on compact sites in walking distance for attending children.
 
The initial concept was first publicly discussed at the Charlotte’s Civic by Design Forum School Design Workshop in September 2006. A team of volunteers supported by DPZ spearheaded developing the concept. The first Learning Cottage prototypes range from coastal to traditional to modern. The concept includes floor plans and elevations for the three different Learning Cottage prototypes.

This Forum will update participants of progress.   Architecture, landscape, and planning designers will present master plans for projects nationally and locally currently underway applying the Learning Cottage model.  In addition, designers will present an expanded variety of Learning Cottage designs including traditional to contemporary, multistory classroms, gymnasiums, cafeterias, media centers, and auditoriums.

Details are below:

5:30pm – 6:30pm  
Levine Museum of the New South
200 East Seventh Street
Free and open to the public
Free parking at 7th street parking garage
Also, following the Forum  |  6:45pm the discussion continues over food and drinks at Brix

October 24: Tom Low, Director of Town Planning, conducted a half-day workshop on Light Imprint New Urbanism for the City of Charleston, South Carolina The three-dozen attendees included all City department heads and select staff.  The workshop also included presentations from Habersham Town Founders Bob Turner and Stephen Davis, along with Rick Hall of Hall Transportation Consultants.

October 19: The Virginia Downtown Development Association awarded Roanoke City Market District Plan with the Annual Award of Excellence for city's over 50,000. Tom Low, Director of DPZ's Charlotte office is picture below.

October 14:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, and Nancy Borum will present a workshop entitled “Building Trends Workshop:  Designing for a 50+ Clientele” on October 18, 2007. The presentation is part of the three-day 8th Annual Conference of the National Active Retirement Association  (NARA)  in Atlanta, Georgia.  

October 2:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning, will present a lecture entitled “City Planning for Green”  on October 4, 2007. His presentation is part of the Fall Adventures in Learning series conducted by the Shepherd’s Center East in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, contact Mary Brown
704 338-1511

September 28:  DPZ's 2300-acre Elim Valley project is now under construction. Elim Valley is located in Hurricane, Utah and when complete, will feature 12 neighborhoods.

September 26:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, will present a lecture entitled “Jumpstarting the School of the Future”  on September 28, 2007. His presentation is part of the 2007 CSI Southeast and Mid-Atlantic Bi-Region conference, For more information, please contect Nina M. Giglio at 704.375-2889

September 15:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, presents a lecture entitled “Civic By Design:  Learning Lessons in New Urban Design from Pioneering Planner John Nolen” in Savannah, Georgia on September 20, 2007. The City of Savannah and Historic Savannah Foundation are sponsoring his presentation as part of their lecture series.

September 14:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, presents a lecture entitled “Light Imprint New Urbanism” at Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina on September 17, 2007. His presentation is part of a monthly lecture series sponsored by the Clemson Advancement Foundation.

September 10:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, and Guy Pearlman present a seminar, "Light Imprint Urbanism:  Coordinating Sustainability and Community" on September 13, 2007. The seminar is part of the AIA North Carolina Three-Day Design Conference called "Original Inspirations:  Preservation, Innovation, Transformation,” in New Bern, North Carolina.

August 22: The Canadian Institute of Planners has given East Fraserlands an Award for Planning Excellence under the category of Neighborhood Planning. East Fraserlands is a 130-acre brownfield redevelopment, located 10km southeast from downtown Vancouver. ParkLane Homes is the developer and DPZ is the master planner.

August 16:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, will present a seminar, "Form-Based Code Basics" and serves on a Question and Answer Panel on August 21, 2007. His presentation is part of the Centralina Council of Governments Conference half-day "Form-Based Codes Seminar" in Gastonia, North Carolina.

August 2:  Tom Low, Director of Town Planning for DPZ Charlotte, will moderate a panel discussion, “Light Rail:  One of Charlotte’s Transportation Solutions” on August 7, 2007, for the Civic By Design Forum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Charlotte Chapter of the Sierra Club hosts the reception following the forum.
 

July 2: On July 2, 2007, the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon presented Bahrain’s Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa with the UN-Habitat’s top award, The Special Citation Scroll of Honour.

The award recognizes the efforts of the Prime Minister for his efforts in lifting the living standards of all Bahrainis through an active focus on poverty alleviation and modernization while preserving the cultural heritage of the country.

In particular, the Royal Initiative of 2003 was singled out in the award. This initiative created the project “Capacity Building for Enhancement of Urban Governance, Urban Design Projects for the Traditional Areas of Bahrain”, which was managed by the UNDP. The goal of the project was to develop a multi-disciplinary programme for the economic and physical regeneration of the traditional areas and buildings of the cities of Manama and Muharraq. DPZ-Europe’s director, Duane Phillips, was the project coordinator and lead urban design consultant for the project conducted between 2005-2006.

DPZ-Europe is very proud to have contributed to the Royal Initiative and to have worked on such a prestigious project.

April 21: White Starr Inc., an architecture and development firm based on Amelia Island, has received a $1.8 million grant from the State of Floridafor Sky, an explicityly green community designed by DPZ in Northwest Florida that will set new benchmarks for renewable and sustainable energy.

January 23: With a 5-2 vote, the Fayetteville Planning Commission early Tuesday morning approved Ruskin Heights, a 29-acre infill TND designed by DPZ and developed by Ward Davis, Morgan Hooker and Dirk Van Veen.

 

December 21:Calhoun County commissioners have unanimously approved the land-use change and large scale map amendment to accommodate Sky, a 590-acre new town designed by DPZ at a May 2005 charrette. The town, which is being developed by Bruce White and Julie Sanford of White Starr development, will offer this rural county a new model for compact and sustainable growth. Rather than consume the former agricultural land with sprawl, the plan preserves more than sixty percent of the site's open space, clustering development into three villages linked by picturesque roads. For more information, see the Sky project description.

December 11:Director of Planning Galina Tahchieva published an article on suburban retrofits in the Architecture & the City journal, published by the Council for European Urbanism. The article, entitled "Urban Renaissance in the U.S.: From Slaburbia to New Urbanism" is featured in both English and Italian.
For more information on the Council for European Urbanism's publications and the Architecture & the City Journal, visit the Council for European Urbanism's publications website, or the Ulisselibri site.

October 12: Willow Oaks, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, received the Martin Collins Award for Implementation from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Planning Association. The 250-acre Hope VI revitalization project includes mixed-use commercial and civic space, as well as approximately 600 housing units, half of which are subsidized by the Greensboro housing authority. Willow Oaks was master-planned by DPZ in 1997, with the plans modified in 2000 and with construction completed in 2006.

October 10:The City of Conway, Arkansas passed the Smart Code Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) overlay with a vote of 7-0. The code, which was written and developed by DPZ and TND partners, will enable the construction of the Village at Hendrix College, a 100-acre mixed-use development master-planned by DPZ. The development, which was designed during charrettes in 1995 and 2005, is adjacent to the Hendrix College campus and will feature retail, offices and residences, including residences for students, professors, staff and alumni.
For more information about the project, visit the Village at Hendrix website

September 29: :Two projects from DPZ's Washington office received awards from the Maryland chapter of the American Institute of Architects for master-planning. Evans Farm, located in Mclean, Virginia, received a Merit Award, while Kentlands, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, received an Honor Award.
The panel of judges commented that Kentlands "is beautifully done... and the idea of community seems to be supported by the architecture, rather than overcome by the architecture. There are truly walkable distances in mixed-use neighborhoods... The key word here, is authentic." Comments for Evans Farm included: "the project demonstrates the importance of spaces created between buildings: between house and sidewalk, sidewalk and street... In addition to the larger public spaces, the spaces between the houses themselves have become rather intimate public spaces."

Septmeber 26: The Canadian Urban Institute has selected DPZ's East Fraserlands project as a finalist for the 2006 Brownie Awards. The project was commended in both the "Implementation and Process" and the "Sustainable Design and Technological Innovation on a Brownfield Site" categories. The 130-acre development, located on a former sawmill site 10 kilometers from downtown Vancouver, will be a mixed-use commercial and residential center, featuring high-rises, "green" building strategies and a north-south greenway running the length of the site.
For more information, visit the Canadian Urban Institute website

September 5: DPZ principal Lizz Plater-Zyberk has been named one of five distinguished professors at the University of Miami. Currently serving as the dean of the School of Architecture, Lizz has taught at the University since 1979.

For more information, visit the University of Miami web site.