The idea of Seaside started with the notion of reviving Northwest Florida's building tradition, which had produced wood-frame cottages so well adapted to the climate that they enhanced the sensual pleasure of life by the sea, while accommodating generations of family members, kids, if they were good, got to sleep on the porch...These cottages had deep roof overhangs, ample windows and cross ventilation in all rooms. They were built of wood and other time-tested materials and with reasonable maintenance, could last several generations. When Robert Davis asked Miami architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk to help him plan a community which could combine the traditions which had produced these buildings, it was soon clear that considerable research needed to be done. No one knew how to revive a building tradition. So a number of journeys were made through the South, and especially through Florida, with cameras and sketch pads and tape measures, until the architects and developer felt confident that the basic rules for making these buildings were understood. Most of the buildings were studied in the context of small towns, and gradually the idea evolved that the small town was the appropriate model to use in thinking about laying out streets and squares and locating the various elements of the community.
