Architect, the Netherlands
Willem Marinus Dudok, a city architect for Hilversum, the Netherlands, a
small town southeast of Amsterdam, is well known for his distinctive
contribution to the modernism of the early 20th century. His architecture
provided a compositional strength and visual richness that transformed the
otherwise traditional and conservative community of Hilversum into the
modern age.
Born in 1884 in Amsterdam to musician parents, Johannes Cornelis and Cornelia
Bertha (née Holst), Dudok claimed that his architectural design was influenced more by
the great composers than by the great architects. Much to the disappointment of his
parents, though, rather than pursue music, Dudok chose a career in the army. He attended
Alkmaar Cadet School and later Breda Military Academy, where he was trained in
military engineering, with a focus on fortification planning. Over time, he taught himself
architecture, and when he was promoted to lieutenant-engineer in the Royal Engineering
Corps, he joined a team that planned and built fortifications that were to surround
Amsterdam, possibly his first experience with building. In 1913, he left the army and
began work as the deputy director of Public Works for the town of Leiden, moving to
Hilversum two years later to become the Director of Public Works. He later became the
city architect in 1928, a position he held until his retirement in 1954.
Throughout Dudok’s long career in Hilversum, he is credited with building almost all
its public buildings and is thought to have been instrumental in producing a town
development plan that was based on the English Garden City movement promoted by
Briton Ebenezer Howard (1850–1928). Of Dudok’s 150 realized projects over his 50-year
career, 80 percent were within Hilversum’s local government area, and only four were
outside the Netherlands. Dudok was at his zenith between 1916 and 1930, when he
designed 13 public housing estates, some of which contained up to 180 buildings. In
addition, he designed 11 schools and extended two others. Other more utilitarian projects
included a sports park, an abattoir, pumping stations, and public utilities. The building
that became an icon and career acme, however, was the Hilversum Town Hall. Although
his design influence pervades the town, no other structure is as much of a masterpiece.
The Marriage between art and geometry succeeded with the culmination of his modernist
philosophy into a premier object d’art.
Dudok claimed to have acquired his ideas of architectural truth from Karel
P.C. de Bazel (1869–1923) and Hendrik Petrus Berlage (1854–1934). De
Bazel was a Theosophist whose mysticism and architectural theory
permeated the planimetric and volumetric geometry of his designs.
Berlage was also widely published; his works included a collection of six
essays titled Though ts on Architecture and Its Development (1911), thought to be one of his more important
Encyclopedia of 20th-century architecture 706
anthologies. It was Berlage, considered the “Father of modern
architecture,” who first introduced the work of Frank Lloyd Wright
(1867–1959) to European architects. His interest and great admiration
caused him to pronounce that Wright was a master, “whose equal is yet to be found in Europe.” The
Wrightian philosophy of form and space definition was particularly espoused by the De
Stijl and the Amsterdam School movements.
Dudok also recognized Wright’s innovative design: “I saw his work for the first
time…and immediately recognized his greatness.” He was impressed by the “poetic
spirit” and “harmonious construction” of his spaces. As a result, Wright then heavily
influenced Dudok’s subsequent work, but Dudok was also thought to have been affected
by Amsterdam School Expressionism, De Stijl functionalism, Delft School
traditionalism, Cubism, and Dutch vernacular. Dudok’s eclectic style was sometimes
mistakenly referred to as a “hybrid” of some or all of these elements. Dudok’s
independent approach to modernism made him one of the most influential architects
working in the Netherlands between the two world wars. This nonconformist unique style
is also sometimes attributed to his informal architectural training.
Dudok’s lifelong passion for music was reflected in the rhythm, mood, and character
of the proportions of his architecture, unifying it and enhancing its sculptural expression.
This response to modernism was restrained by the soft craftsmanship of the built form.
Dudok managed to express the ideals of modern architecture while still retaining the
traditional values of composition, craftsmanship, and materials but most importantly,
monumentality. Dudok emphasized that “monumentality is the most pure expression of
the human sense of harmony and order.” The monumental building stressed not only the
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essential material elements but also its spirituality. Its value transcended the human
experience and entered the spiritual realm. This architectural theology in the form of built
reality formed a model for many later architects throughout Europe and the United States.
Unfortunately, as his “style” was repeatedly duplicated, his individuality and stylistic
superiority diminished. By the 1950s, his architecture no longer contained the artistic and
spiritual qualities that were inherent in the earlier works.
Dudok was celebrated in worldwide publications of his work. By 1924 international
books and journals showcased his projects, giving great attention to the town in which he
did most of his work. Hilversum briefly became an architectural mecca, attracting
admirers to study and perhaps worship Dudok’s work.
Dudok’s architecture earned several awards, including the gold medals of the Royal
Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1935, the American Institute of Architects (AIA)
in 1955, and the French Academy of Architecture in 1966. In his own country, he
received several other awards, including knighthood.
Dudok’s other notable projects include the Municipal Baths (1921) in Hilversum, the
columbarium of the creamery (1926) in Westerveld, The Netherlands students’ house of
the Cité Universitaire (1927) in Paris, “De Bijenkorf” (1929) in Rotterdam, the
Monument on the Zuyderzee Dyke (1933), and the H.A.V. Bank (1934–35) in Schiedam.
Dudok’s independent style produced a range of modernist buildings, making him a
defining force in the Modern movement and a premier architect of his time.
DUANY AND PLATER-ZYBERK
Architecture and town planning firm, United States
The firm of Duany and Plater-Zyberk and Company (DPZ) was formed in 1980. They
have designed a number of award-winning, internationally published buildings that
explore the transformation of local building tradition through classical systems of order.
Their early Key Biscayne houses—Hibiscus (1981), De la Cruz (1983), Vilanova
(1985)—and commercial buildings, such as Galen Medical (1983), in Boca Raton, reflect
the grounding of abstract principles of architectural ordering borrowed from Le
Corbusier’s evolutionary theories of modernism as derived from classicism.
As architecture students at Yale University in the early 1970s, Andrés Duany and
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk absorbed the university’s eclectic approach to the study of
architecture with a growing emphasis on the craft-based tradition of building exemplified
in early America’s vernacular architecture. The theories of Vincent Scully, who decried
the fierce effects of urban redevelopment schemes and proposed a view of architecture
Entries A–F 701
that included reconsideration of the traditional language of construction, laid the
groundwork for what would become the DPZ practice.
Duany and Plater-Zyberk joined the architecture faculty of the University of Miami in
1974 and 1979, respectively. Their dual commitment to architecture education and
practice established their methods of working. Léon and Rob Krier, along with Colin
Rowe, were among the leading theorists who inspired the firm’s expansion of an
architectural method to the design of neighborhoods and the development of plans for
towns and cities and laid the foundation for an approach to town planning that is
architecturally conceived. The first town design (Seaside, 1979, on Florida’s panhandle)
was an experiment in establishing specifically designed spaces that ensure urbanity
through ordinance. DPZ’s subsequent Traditional Neighborhood Development Ordinance
further codified the process of translating physical design to legal prescriptions for land
use, allocation, and regulation. The textual and graphic codes of the ordinance establish
the regulating plan; urban, architectural, and landscape regulations; and street type.
Beginning in Seaside, DPZ generally exempts public buildings from such regulations to
distinguish civic monument from domestic and commercial fabric. DPZ moved from
new-town design to improvements in existing communities with an emphasis on
reinforcing neighborhood identity and ensuring physical predictability through ordinance.
In 1988, Duany and Plater-Zyberk founded what is now the Town Design program at
the University of Miami to actively engage and train graduate students in the process of
designing and building towns and communities. Duany and Plater-Zyberk, with faculty
and practitioners from across the nation, cofounded the Congress for the New Urbanism
(CNU), which expands the pioneering work of the founders from an initial academic
inquiry into a national movement for urban reform. The CNU advocates the development
and redevelopment of towns and cities through a cohesive effort marked by a
coordination of architecture and infrastructure with environmental, social, and economic
initiatives.
Moreover, the architects have focused on buildings that enhance community. DPZ has
engaged inner-city building with Florida projects such as the Mission San Juan Bautista
(1996), a small mission church in Wynwood; La Estancia (1997), a migrant workers’
housing complex in Tampa; and the DPZ office (1990) near Miami’s Calle Ocho. Public
projects such as the Florida City Civic Complex (1996), done with Lidia Abello and
Derrick Smith, directly address issues of urbanism and use formal properties of space and
light to demonstrate civic principles, as in the linkage of the main hall’s skylight
illumination of the interior with the action of a government in the “sunshine,” Florida’s
law that mandates that all discussions of public officials on public issues be held with
appropriate notice and in a public forum.
Concepts of urbanism rooted in local tradition are at the foundation of
DPZ’s urban design projects around the world, including the development
of Kemer Village (1992) in Istanbul, Turkey, and Dos Rios (Manila, 1999)
in the Philippines. Consistency of materials, structure, organizing devices,
and use of local traditions gives DPZ’s architecture a close and specific
association with the conditions of the site, first as a historic, cultural
entity, then as an environmental and social ecology, and then as an
architectural continuum. The buildings and urban projects demonstrate DPZ’s central philosophy, which values architecture as the agent of
community and as essential to a civil society.
The firm of Duany and Plater-Zyberk and Company (DPZ) was formed in 1980. They
have designed a number of award-winning, internationally published buildings that
explore the transformation of local building tradition through classical systems of order.
Their early Key Biscayne houses—Hibiscus (1981), De la Cruz (1983), Vilanova
(1985)—and commercial buildings, such as Galen Medical (1983), in Boca Raton, reflect
the grounding of abstract principles of architectural ordering borrowed from Le
Corbusier’s evolutionary theories of modernism as derived from classicism.
As architecture students at Yale University in the early 1970s, Andrés Duany and
Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk absorbed the university’s eclectic approach to the study of
architecture with a growing emphasis on the craft-based tradition of building exemplified
in early America’s vernacular architecture. The theories of Vincent Scully, who decried
the fierce effects of urban redevelopment schemes and proposed a view of architecture
Entries A–F 701
that included reconsideration of the traditional language of construction, laid the
groundwork for what would become the DPZ practice.
Duany and Plater-Zyberk joined the architecture faculty of the University of Miami in
1974 and 1979, respectively. Their dual commitment to architecture education and
practice established their methods of working. Léon and Rob Krier, along with Colin
Rowe, were among the leading theorists who inspired the firm’s expansion of an
architectural method to the design of neighborhoods and the development of plans for
towns and cities and laid the foundation for an approach to town planning that is
architecturally conceived. The first town design (Seaside, 1979, on Florida’s panhandle)
was an experiment in establishing specifically designed spaces that ensure urbanity
through ordinance. DPZ’s subsequent Traditional Neighborhood Development Ordinance
further codified the process of translating physical design to legal prescriptions for land
use, allocation, and regulation. The textual and graphic codes of the ordinance establish
the regulating plan; urban, architectural, and landscape regulations; and street type.
Beginning in Seaside, DPZ generally exempts public buildings from such regulations to
distinguish civic monument from domestic and commercial fabric. DPZ moved from
new-town design to improvements in existing communities with an emphasis on
reinforcing neighborhood identity and ensuring physical predictability through ordinance.
In 1988, Duany and Plater-Zyberk founded what is now the Town Design program at
the University of Miami to actively engage and train graduate students in the process of
designing and building towns and communities. Duany and Plater-Zyberk, with faculty
and practitioners from across the nation, cofounded the Congress for the New Urbanism
(CNU), which expands the pioneering work of the founders from an initial academic
inquiry into a national movement for urban reform. The CNU advocates the development
and redevelopment of towns and cities through a cohesive effort marked by a
coordination of architecture and infrastructure with environmental, social, and economic
initiatives.
Moreover, the architects have focused on buildings that enhance community. DPZ has
engaged inner-city building with Florida projects such as the Mission San Juan Bautista
(1996), a small mission church in Wynwood; La Estancia (1997), a migrant workers’
housing complex in Tampa; and the DPZ office (1990) near Miami’s Calle Ocho. Public
projects such as the Florida City Civic Complex (1996), done with Lidia Abello and
Derrick Smith, directly address issues of urbanism and use formal properties of space and
light to demonstrate civic principles, as in the linkage of the main hall’s skylight
illumination of the interior with the action of a government in the “sunshine,” Florida’s
law that mandates that all discussions of public officials on public issues be held with
appropriate notice and in a public forum.
Concepts of urbanism rooted in local tradition are at the foundation of
DPZ’s urban design projects around the world, including the development
of Kemer Village (1992) in Istanbul, Turkey, and Dos Rios (Manila, 1999)
in the Philippines. Consistency of materials, structure, organizing devices,
and use of local traditions gives DPZ’s architecture a close and specific
association with the conditions of the site, first as a historic, cultural
entity, then as an environmental and social ecology, and then as an
architectural continuum. The buildings and urban projects demonstrate DPZ’s central philosophy, which values architecture as the agent of
community and as essential to a civil society.
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