Architecture

Elizabeth Diller Q&A
Elizabeth Diller from Diller Scofidio and Renfro

Elizabeth Diller Q&A

Architects Directory 2008

 

What was the main concept behind the Center’s renovation and overall makeover?
We were originally invited to ‘enliven’ the public spaces - probably noone really had a complete vision of how far this project would go. The first set of projects just bled into more projects.

Diller Scofidio and Renfro are known for combining architecture and art; how does that affect and appear on the actual design process?
Many people think that our work is somehow linear, but it’s lots of different trajectories. We don’t think of a new site as a ‘tabula rasa’ - it has a history. Programme has its own history.

What is your favourite part of the Lincoln Center?
I used to go there as a high school student, so to make it relevant to my life was a great opportunity.

What were the challenges of working on such an iconic and well-known project, as the Lincoln Center?
The Lincoln Center sensed that something had to be done. The site was bisected by a service street - a spine - but it had great potential. Then the iconic parts of the complex started to look tired against the new work. There was no room for expansion on the existing arrangement, so we were essentially fixing planning problems.

When designing, is there something in particular that you focus on?
The ‘megablock’ approach to planning was very opaque, it came from a different socio-political moment. Our approach is sending a different sort of message.

How do you choose the projects you will work on? What are you working on right now?
Ongoing works include a cultural building for Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, bringing together a number of faculties - it’s very adventurous. We’re also working on a Performing Arts Center on the Hudson River, an installation at the Venice Biennale where we’ll transform canal water into espresso coffee, and an installation with Paul Virilio at the Fondation Cartier in Paris about economic and political migration. Other works include a residence in Manhattan that’s had major planning constraints - we’ve designed a new kind of façade, a motorised masonry wall - and a golf resort in Scottsdale, Arizona.

What would your ideal project be?
What’s interesting for us is that all our earlier work was self-generated. Now there are problems that are put in front of us. The difference between working independently and also being used to generate programmes that actually intervene in the way things are.

How has the perception of architecture changed since you started practicing?
You have to work within existing economic, social and political systems in order to realise your visions.

Architects Directory 2008