Elizabeth Diller is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Ricardo Scofidio, Diller’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s „100 Most Influential People“ list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture. DS+R completed two of the largest architecture and planning initiatives in New York City’s recent history: the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into the High Line, a 1.5 mile-long public park, and the transformation of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ half-century-old campus. The studio has also completed the 35-acre Zaryadye Park, adjacent to the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral and Red Square in Moscow. Most recently, Diller led two cultural works significant to New York: The Shed and the expansion of MoMA. Diller also co- created, -directed and -produced The Mile-Long Opera, an immersive choral work staged on the High Line. Diller is a member of the UN Council on Urban Initiatives and a Professor of Architectural Design at Princeton University.
Statement Elizabeth Diller:
The pause in life as we knew it due to the Covid-19 pandemic allowed us to reflect on the transformational events of 2020. There is no going back to the status quo, to the unquestioned norms of institutions and everyday, operational space that we typically sleepwalk through. The post-pandemic world invites us to ask: What works but needs fixing? What needs total condemnation? What is unrecoverable? And what is all of a sudden imaginable?
Photo: Geordie Wood