Elizabeth Diller, architecture as a cultural discipline

Transgressive, innovative, rebellious. These are terms for defining the work of the architect and artist Elizabeth Diller, selected this year by Time magazine as one of the "100 most influential people in the world."

 

To talk about the presence of the female gender in architecture, and particularly of women who stand out in the profession, even in our century, is a challenge. According to the report "Diversity in the architectural profession", conducted in 2016 by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 64% of women have perceived that, by temporarily distancing themselves from the practice to take care of the family, the Return do not find significant opportunities to rejoin (only 37% of architects think the same). In addition, 59% of women reported that most of them obtain lower payments than their male colleagues.
In this uninspiring panorama, the presence of architects such as Elizabeth Diller confirms the possibility of women to stand out in the area, and to mark a path towards an inclusive architectural activity.
Elizabeth Diller is the founder of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS + R), an office created in 1981 based in New York and composed by more than 100 architects, designers, artists and researchers, led by four partners: Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin. It is a particular study, which is characterized by addressing both the fields of architecture and urban design, as well as other artistic areas such as installation, multimedia performance, digital media and printing.
This multidisciplinarity is congruent with Elizabeth's comprehensive training in the field of architecture and art and is also manifested in her daily activities, as an architect, artist, teacher, and distinguished scholar. She is a professor of architecture at Princeton University and a visiting professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture, a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Royal Institute of Architects. British (RIBA). And if it were not enough, she will lead this year the grand jury for the international prize of this prestigious English institution.
His architectural projects as well as his artistic performances, which are qualified as transgressors and innovators, are the result of a deep exploration in these areas and of a way of seeing architecture not as a traditional profession, but rather as A "Cultural discipline" that feeds on creative and analytical interdisciplinary thinking.
Among his many honors are the Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Academy of Design, the Brunner Award of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Barnard Medal of Distinction, the ' Genius ' Fellowship of the MacArthur Foundation from 1999 to 2004 − The first Granted in the field of architecture − and an honorary Doctorate of humanities of Occidental College.
DS + R is responsible for two of the most recent architecture and planning initiatives in new York City: High Line and the transformation of a half-century-old Lincoln Center Performing Arts campus.
Other notable projects in his country include the Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center at Columbia University; The Berkeley Museum of Art and Pacific Film Archive at UC Berkeley; The Granoff Center at Brown University; and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston. While the international projects of the study include the Zaryadye Park, adjacent to the Kremlin in Moscow of 2017 and the Museum of Image and sound currently under construction in Rio de Janeiro.

I consider myself a feminist, but she knows she has more freedom because of the hard work that other generations of feminists, a direct beneficiary, did.

Currently, the study directs two important cultural works for new York: The Shed, and the expansion of the Museum of Modern Art (both with a view to being inaugurated in 2019). He is also designing three artistic facilities to be inaugurated in May 2018 and two installations at the Venice Biennale of 2018.
Time Magazine's Eli Broad comments, "perhaps because she is a woman working in a man-dominated field, or because she is originally a conceptual artist. Whatever the reason, Liz sees opportunities where others see challenges. She can do the impossible. "