The Reluctant Architect: 15 Minutes with Liz Diller

2016-04-20T08:49:00-04:00

Elizabeth Diller, co-founding partner of Diller, Scofidio and Renfro, almost didn’t become an architect. In her student years at Cooper Union, Diller expressed a greater interest in pursuing film than in taking up traditional architectural practice, partly because the profession seemed like too much of a commercial pursuit. Some thirty-six years later, from the Broad Museum to Lincoln Center to The High Line, DS+R’s built work consistently pushes the visitor to experience space in an unanticipated way without providing a ready-made interpretation.

Liz Diller gets high: discussing The High Line's development with Christopher Hawthorne

2016-02-19T18:07:00-05:00

Few would have predicted that a “used-condom-strewn” elevated railway line running through what used to be seedy Chelsea would become one of New York City’s biggest cultural attractions. And yet, according to Elizabeth Diller in conversation with Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne at LAX Art on February 16, last year over seven million people walked Diller, Scofidio + Renfro’s High Line. That’s about four million more than attended MoMA or even all of the Yankees games, making The High Line not just a renovated railway, but a literal cultural bridge between the pedestrian and the aesthetic realms.

Archinect - Features

The Reluctant Architect: 15 Minutes with Liz Diller

Liz Diller gets high: discussing The High Line's development with Christopher Hawthorne