Once again, the Driehaus Prize honors a Yalie. Actually, the 2008 installment premiates two of them. Did we miss something? Is this now an unstated requirement? Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk have been a force to be reckoned with for twenty-five years. They are quite deserving of the recognition, but isn’t it a bit fishy? This Yale thing has to be more than a coincidence.
Leon Krier (2003 Laureate) and Demetri Porphyrios (2004) have taught at Yale. Jaquelin T. Robertson (2007) and Allan Greenberg (2006) are alumni, as are Duany and Plater-Zyberk. Only Quinlan Terry (2005) seems outside the umbrella. Unlike the rest of the world operating with six degrees of separation, architecture is small and works within two or three. So there must be a connection. And thus, Quinlan’s son and partner, Francis, used to work for Greenberg in Washington, D.C.
Yale is world-renowned. But how have they been connected with so many award-winning classical architects? Notre Dame is touted as the only classically based architectural design program in America and the architecture school Plater-Zyberk heads at the University of Miami teaches principals of traditional urbanism and vernacular architecture. In contrast, Yale’s School of Architecture proudly presents itself as a program without aesthetic agenda, only aiming to drive students intellectually.
In speaking of classicism and modernism, Yale Dean Robert A.M. Stern warns that “today's ‘ism’ has a way of becoming tomorrow's ‘wasm’.” How does that produce classicists? Were these talented, now award-winning designers drawn to Yale with fully formed, classical and traditional aesthetic ideas? Does Yale teach a special form of salesmanship that makes this special breed more visible and therefore more appealing to award juries? Or is there simply a secret handshake they’re not telling us about?
Is there hope for those of us in the classical ranks of the Irish and the Hurricanes? Perhaps Ms. Plater-Zyberk’s award will open the doors a bit wider to other pedigrees. In the meantime—just in case—does anyone have a spare Yale application? I have a pen handy.
Samantha L. Salden
Comments