Diller Scofidio + Renfro is an American interdisciplinary design studio that integrates architecture, the visual arts, and the performing arts. Based in New York City, Diller Scofidio + Renfro is led by four partners – Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro, and Benjamin Gilmartin – who work with a staff of architects, artists, designers, and researchers.
History
The studio was founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio in 1981; Charles Renfro joined in 1997 and became partner in 2004. Benjamin Gilmartin became a partner in 2015.
In 1999, the MacArthur Foundation honored the firm's work with the 'genius' award, stating that they "have created an alternative form of architectural practice that unites design, performance, and electronic media with cultural and architectural theory and criticism. Their work explores how space functions in our culture and illustrates that architecture, when understood as the physical manifestation of social relationships, is everywhere, not just in buildings."[2][3]
Work
Diller Scofidio + Renfro's international body of completed architectural work includes the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Redevelopment in New York (including the redesign of Alice Tully Hall), the renovation and expansion of the Juilliard School, the Hypar Pavilion Lawn and Restaurant,[4] the expansion of the School of American Ballet, renovations to the New York State Theater lobby, the canopy entry to Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, public spaces throughout the campus, Information Landscape, and the President's Bridge.
Selected work
Blur, a pavilion built of fog on Lake Neuchâtel and commissioned by the Swiss Expo.02, (2002)
In 2013 Diller Scofidio + Renfro won the international design competition for Zaryadye Park, a new 35-acre public space next to the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia.[11]
Other prestigious awards and honors received by Diller Scofidio + Renfro include: the National Design Award from the Smithsonian; the Brunner Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; an Obie for an off-Broadway theater production; the Centennial Medal of Honor from American Academy in Rome; the AIA President's Award; the AIA Medal of Honor; and AIA Design Awards for numerous projects. In 2003, the Whitney Museum of American Art[18] held a retrospective of the studio's work, recognizing the firm's unorthodox practice. In 2009, Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio were named among Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World[19] and the partners were featured in a one-hour segment with Charlie Rose. In 2010, Fast Company named Diller Scofidio + Renfro the most innovative design practice in the profession and among the 50 most innovative companies in the world.[20]
Publications
Books by Diller Scofidio + Renfro include Bodybuildings: Architectural Facts and Fictions; Back to the Front: Tourisms of War; Flesh: architectural probes; and Blur: the Making of Nothing. The studio's most recent book, Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account, chronicles a decade of work redesigning a New York City icon. Diller Scofidio + Renfro is the subject of Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio,[21] published by the Whitney Museum and including essays by Aaron Betsky, K. Michael Hays and Laurie Anderson; the monograph Diller + Scofidio (+Renfro): The Ciliary Function by Guido Incerti, Daria Ricchi and Deane Simpson; and Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Architecture After Images[22] by Edward Dimendberg