S.D. Don Zivkovic
Don Zivkovic, an award-winning, internationally published architect, with a master of architectural history from Columbia University in New York and an undergraduate professional degree from the University of Western Australia, established a practice recognized for its pursuit of quality indesign, which is ultimately based on a respect for the past that is fundamentalto keeping the timeless tradition of architecture alive and meaningful today. He is licensed to practice architecture in the US and Australia and his more than 40 years of experience encompass many building and interior design works, including master planning and project management, for a diverse institutional, commercial and residential clientele in the US, Europe and Australasia. From major new building projects to furniture and hardware design, the focus of his firm is on understanding clients’ overall strategies and long-term interests, to ensure a quality of product which is measured in terms of its functional performance and the added-value imparted to projects that are consistently completed at a high standard of finish and within given budget and time parameters.
The owners and end-users of his work number, among others, prominent individuals from the entertainment industry, old-world aristocracy and Wall Street, as well as such important institutions as American Express, International Committee of the Red Cross, Foster’s Group, British Petroleum and West Point Military Academy, for example. The range of his built work comprises new building construction in New York City and its environs, on the one hand; and on the other, a modern embassy in Manhattan for the Government of Botswana; as well as preservation of existing historic fabric on both sides of the Atlantic, including the conversion of a 19th century landmark bank building at Cornhill, in the City of London, England, to accommodate new corporate headquarters and state-of-the-art trading-floor operations; in addition to numerous renovation projects at such New York City landmarks as the Rockefeller Center, MetLife Building and World Financial Center and other locations.
At the same time, he is known for the fine homes, including apartments, townhouses and country residences, designed for a select group of private patrons seeking contemporary comfort and convenience, together with the time-honored and well-proportioned refinement which is characteristic of the enduring architecture of the past, traditional and modern. The new classically-styled Carhart apartment house, on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, has been called one of the city’s best buildings of the last half century and a new Palladian-inspired house and landscape in the Hudson Valley is praised as of its time and place, while the rehabilitation of a 30-acre stone-manor estate in Greenwich, Connecticut, was featured in The New York Times as one of the most exclusive private properties in the world.
He is affiliated with the American and Royal Australian Institutes of Architects and the Institute of Classical Architecture. He has also served as President of the New York Chapter of the Society of American Registered Architects and on its national board, in addition to being a Director of the Architects’ Council of New York City. For many years, he chaired the jury of the long-running,
national Student Design competition of the Society of American Registered Architects and, with his partner, sponsored a national Drawing Prize at the Institute of Classical Architecture, which recognizes and fosters the talent of young architects. He has also been a guest critic at schools of architecture in New York. Other probono service has included trusteeships on the Board of the Thomas Paine Museum and National Historical Association, as well as with the Lycee Francais de New York, where he was a leader in the school’s successful design and construction of a new Kindergarten-12th Grade, state-of-the-art facility in Manhattan. He was awarded an historic Order of Chivalry (Chevalier des Palmes Academiques) by the French Government for his leadership in building for education.
Honored by his peers and the community for the excellence of both his modern and traditional designs, together with a strong background in planning and project management, Don Zivkovic brings a unique blend of aesthetic and practical skills to every project. Architectural historians and critics have recognized his work but, ultimately, the cornerstone of his practice is
the making of beautiful places and, as such, buildings are regarded as a community affair which contribute to making the preferred environments in which to live and work.