Diller Scofidio + Renfro

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Blur Building at Expo.02 in Yverdon.

Exterior shot of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, September 2, 2007

Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a New York City based architectural firm founded by Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio. They are particularly well known for their interdisciplinary approach to architecture. Their influence stems as much, if not more so, from their contributions to the theory and criticism of architecture as from their built works. These are sometimes in the form of written work, but more often are in the form of installation art, video art or electronic art.

They are the first architects to win a MacArthur Prize.

[edit] Projects and buildings

In 1986 they designed the set for The Rotary Notary and His Hot Plate, a performance piece by the Creation Production Company in Philadelphia which takes Marcel Duchamp's Bride Stripped Bare By Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass) as its inspiration, for which they received a grant from the Graham Foundation. Para-site, a site-specific installation they did for the Museum of Modern Art in 1989, investigated how technology is implicated in voyeurism. Their first built work (only the foundation) was the Slow House, a modest private residence almost completed in North Haven Point, Long Island, New York in 1990 (The client ran out of funds) . Flesh: Architectural Probes, published in 1994, and Back to the Front: Tourisms of War, published in 1996, are both collections of critical essays on architecture and culture interspersed with photos and drawings of their sculpural work. In 2002, they completed the Blur Building, a lake pavilion entirely enveloped in mist, at the Swiss Expo 2002. In 2003, they were the subject of a major retrospective at the Whitney Museum entitled SCANNING: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio. The firm recently designed the new building for the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston and has been working on the redevelopment of Lincoln Center in New York City.

In 2004 Charles Renfro was made a partner and they have since been known as Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

Staying active in the academic world, Elizabeth Diller teaches at Princeton University, Ricardo Scofidio teaches at Cooper Union, and Charles Renfro occasionally teaches at Columbia University.