Middleton Hills has been master planned by DPZ Architects in cooperation with Marshall Erdman. Mr. Erdman is the founder of Marshall Erdman and Associates, the nation's leading designer and builder of medical outpatient facilities. Established in 1951, the firm has its headquarters and Midwest Division in Madison, Wisconsin. Six other Division offices, in Hartford, Washington, DC, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and San Jose, CA, enable the firm to serve clients in all parts of the continental United States.
Marshall Erdman was often called a visionary. He was not content to follow established practices when he could see a better way. In the 1950's he worked with Frank Lloyd Wright on the design and construction of housing and the landmark Madison First Unitarian Church. In the years that followed, Erdman served as a consultant to the Peace Corps and was involved in many community and state boards and commissions, while continuing to oversee operation of the firm. Erdman and Associates has earned a reputation for integrity and good design, while completing upward of 3,000 building projects in all parts of the country. In 1980, Marshall Erdman introduced a line of high quality furniture and cabinetry known as Techline.
In the fall of 1993 Erdman hired Andres Duany, internationally known architect and planner, to assist in the design of a new community on 150 acres of land in Middleton that Erdman had owned for many years. He was determined that the neighborhood he built on this special land would be an alternative to current suburban development and a model for others to follow. With Middleton Hills, Marshall Erdman hoped to make a contribution to the community in which he had flourished.
Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk founded their DPZ architectural firm in 1980 and since then have been responsible for the design of over 70 planned communities in this country and abroad. They were inspired by the study of American towns built from approximately 1890 to 1930 -- compact towns, with smaller lots, closer houses, narrower streets, and a mixture of uses, both commercial and residential. The success and popularity to this day of these towns and neighborhoods suggested to Duany that they better served human needs.
Andres Duany and his team of designers, engineers and landscape architects spent a week in Madison studying the site, meeting with municipal leaders and neighbors, analyzing codes and ordinances, and developing the basic design for Middleton Hills. They then prepared many of the specific design codes that will assure the physical and visual success of the neighborhood.
