by Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP
Event: Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Design, the Arts and Everything Else
Location: Center for Architecture, 10.05.09
Speakers: Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, AIA — Partners, Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Organizers: Center for Architecture as part of Architecture Week
Sponsors: Kohler; Kramer Levin; Solco
The Standard Hotel straddling the High Line.
Jessica Sheridan
“Media is irrelevant as long as there is an experiment,” said Ricardo Scofidio, AIA, of his firm’s work. The trajectory of Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s practice has been consistent from its founding. The firm has always explored space through the mundane yet visual culture, aiming to provide a perspective about the ordinary from a different and new vantage point. As recipients of this year’s President’s Award, DS+R partners Scofidio and Elizabeth Diller presented a survey of their work at the Center for Architecture. From their first project in 1981, an invited competition by the Institute for Urban Studies to create an installation in Columbus Circle, to their latest museum in Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, under construction, DS+R seeks to redefine the possibilities of architecture.
After long operating in a self-proclaimed exile from the architecture profession, with a series of gallery installations, small structures, and a viewing platform at Ground Zero, DS+R has recently come to accept their position in the profession with several high profile projects. “We could have never dreamed to have an effect on NY the way we did,” claimed Diller when presenting the Lincoln Center redevelopment plan and the High Line. With both projects, the firm exercised restraint with unexpected results. At Lincoln Center, by focusing on making small adjustments, DS+R’s goal was to break down the implicit elitism of the “acropolean” complex. By creating public gathering spaces, providing space for impromptu street performances, and employing a single-way cable net curtain wall for maximum transparency at the Julliard School, street life is drawn into the buildings while culture spills onto the street.
The design intent behind the High Line was to create a park where visitors can enjoy the city, rather than escape from it. Admittedly, the firm unexpectedly became part of reinvigorating the Meatpacking District, which is now a goldmine of development and starchitecture. Not only that, but Diller confessed that the public is exposing the nature of the High Line more than they could have imagined — literally. With the Standard Hotel straddling the park, exhibitionism is rampant to the extent that voyeurs are bringing binoculars to the High Line to watch the exploits behind the unshielded windows of the hotel. Further north, where a construction floodlight points at a fire escape like a spotlight, the resident within performs spontaneous “renegade cabarets” for anyone willing to watch.
While the firm has enjoyed many successes, it also has suffered painful losses, including the National Museum of African American Culture in Washington, D.C., and the Munch + Sternersen Museum in Olso. Ultimately, Diller describes the DS+R’s work as “all scales, all media, sometimes ironic, inverting expectations, and sometimes simply stating the facts.” Whatever the work is, it is always critical and generative.
To watch a short video about Diller Scofidio + Renfro, shown at the Heritage Ball, go to the Podcasts website.