Archinect - News

The Broad taps Diller Scofidio + Renfro again for major expansion

2024-03-27T18:33:00-04:00

Big news for architecture and art fans alike coming out of Los Angeles today, where The Broad just announced plans for a major expansion project to the tune of $100 million.

The reveal of the new proposal, which will reportedly increase the available gallery space by 70%, comes nearly ten years after the existing building opened to much fanfare on Downtown LA's Grand Avenue arts and culture corridor in 2015 to allow free public access to the vast art collection of philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad.

For the design of the expansion, the museum has commissioned the original architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) again, whose initial renderings hint at a continuation of their "veil and vault" concept.

"The exterior of the expansion echoes the surface appearance of the vault — as if this core had been exposed and 'unveiled' — symbolically expressing The Broad’s commitment to access while playfully inverting the visual vocabulary of the current building," the architects describe...

Elizabeth Diller is drawing personal lessons from her design for the Jewish Museum's Edmund de Waal exhibition

2021-10-18T16:40:00-04:00

The personal has never been a hallmark of Diller’s work in architecture and design. But working with de Waal’s emotionally charged travelogue, she said, had a transformational effect. “Seeing the world of his family through Edmund’s eyes,” she said, “I saw my family history also.” “Edmund dug into his past,” Diller added. “I didn’t. I couldn’t bear it.” Designing an exhibition based on de Waal’s book has changed that.

Six rooms designed by Elizabeth Diller give viewers a glimpse into de Waal’s inner world informed by his relatives, the Ephrussis, who, like the architect’s own Polish family, was forced into exile during the Holocaust. Diller said she wanted the exhibition spaces to reflect the displacement felt by the storied art-collecting family and chronicled by de Waal in his fiction. The author referred to Diller as “the great dramaturge of space.”

Diller had previously designed a 2016 exhibition at the museum which focused on the lifework of French architect Pierre Chareau.

The exhibition "The Hare with Amber Eyes" goes on view starting November 19th. More information can be found here.

Cooper Union opens access to database of student work dating back to the 1930s

2019-12-03T09:30:00-05:00

The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union in New York City has unveiled The Student Work Collection, a new online resource that highlights nearly 80 years' worth of architectural output with the aim of recording the "School of Architecture's pedagogy by documenting student work."

The comprehensive archival project includes over 4,000 student projects that are catalogued by student and and instructor names, as well as by course number, semester, decade, and design problem, among other topics. The collection provides a deep view into the early pen-on-vellum work of now-famous architects like Daniel Libeskind (class of 1970), Liz Diller (class of 1979), and others. The archive also offers a more complex perspective of the educational efforts of prominent architectural educators and theorists, including John Hejduk, Peter Eisenman, Toshiko Mori, Lebbeus Woods, and others.

Homepage of The Student Work Collection. Image courtesy of Cooper Union.

According to the site...

For S/S 2019, Prada asked female architects to redesign their iconic nylon bag

2019-04-08T20:44:00-04:00

Prada is no stranger to working with highly acclaimed architects. The Milanese fashion house's longstanding partnership with the Rem Koolhaas-led architecture firm OMA, who have helped them with boutiques, branding studies, films, digital products, and other projects, has been one of the industry's strongest alliances.

So, when looking for designers to reinterpret their most iconic item, the black nylon handbag, it is no surprise they turned to some of the field's biggest and brightest. In their latest interpretation of the material, Prada asked leading female architects Cini Boeri, Elizabeth Diller and Kazuyo Sejima to create unique pieces in the brand's signature nylon fabric, first debuted by Miuccia Prada in 1984.

The collaboration is part of their Prada Invites project, which last year invited Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, Herzog & de Meuron and Rem Koolhaas to respond to a similar prompt. While the four men sent a printed t-shirt, front pack, portfolio case a...

Interview Magazine talks with architectural heavyweights Ellen van Loon and Elizabeth Diller

2019-03-11T13:26:00-04:00

Q: How would you describe our particular time, architecturally speaking? Elizabeth Diller: It’s more a time of collaboration, and a deeper contemplation about what buildings can mean and how they can have more social value. I think it’s a time where you have to make a case for architecture to still be relevant.

Interview Magazine sits down to talk with OMA partner Ellen van Loon and Elizabeth Diller of DSRNY. Both are currently working on projects for long-awaited cultural spaces—van Loon on the Factory Manchester, a £110 million theater and arts venue, and Diller with the Shed, a major new arts center opening at Hudson Yards in New York. Through the discussion, the two address an array of topics: New York and Berlin in the 1970s, club design, anti-glass sentiments, the privatization of public space, Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the role of a client, and fighting to keep your voice as an architect.

Elizabeth Diller wins 2019 Jane Drew Prize, Hélène Binet wins Ada Louise Huxtable Prize + Women in Architecture shortlists announced

2019-01-28T14:09:00-05:00

Today, the Architects' Journal and Architectural Review announced two influential women in the architecture industry as winning recipients in their 2019 Women in Architecture Awards program. Architect Elizabeth Diller was honored with the Jane Drew Prize, while renowned architectural photographer Hélène Binet won the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize.

The Jane Drew Prize is a lifetime achievement that recognizes an architect who, through their work, helped raise the profile of women in architecture. The Ada Louise Huxtable Prize recognizes individuals working in the wider architectural industry who have made a significant contribution to the field and the built environment.

The Broad Museum in Los Angeles by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Photo: Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

“Liz Diller is an international architectural powerhouse and a hugely deserving winner of this year’s Jane Drew Prize. From her wide range of work [...] Diller’s brave, refreshing, innovative and often cross-disciplinary approach...

“Prada Invites” project collaborates with Elizabeth Diller, Kazuyo Sejima, and Cini Boeri

2018-09-21T14:00:00-04:00

As the second installment of the “Prada Invites” series, Kazuyo Sejima, Elizabeth Diller and Cini Boeri all worked with the Italian label to create designs from the classic Prada Nylon. “Prada Invites” is intended to look at the intersectionality of design, leading to conversations and collaborations between different design disciplines.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro present "The Mile-Long Opera" along the High Line this fall

2018-07-09T14:45:00-04:00

Diller Scofidio + Renfro together with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang present The Mile-Long Opera: a biography of 7 o’clock, a 5 night series of performances taking place along the High Line. Featuring 1,000 singers from across NYC, this extensive community engagement initiative will allow audience members to actively participate among choral work throughout the park.

Singers rehearsing for the The Mile-Long Opera. Image: Luis Paez.

Elizabeth Diller explains, “After working on the design of the High Line for over a decade and witnessing the rapid transformation of the surrounding area, I thought a lot about the life cycle of the city—its decay and rebirth—full of opportunities and contradictions."

The performances will take place from October 3-7, 2018. Admission is free, however advanced tickets are required and will be available at milelongopera.com starting September 5.

Following criticism of the lack of women speakers at the 2017 AIA Conference, Elizabeth Diller added to roster

2017-03-06T19:50:00-05:00

Elizabeth Diller, the founding partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, will now deliver a keynote address at this year’s AIA Conference on Architecture. The announcement follows intense criticism lodged at the AIA last month following an initial announcement of a lineup without any women.

Many architects voiced criticism and some signed an open letter calling for the AIA to take more meaningful action to address gender inequity in the profession. Subsequently, the AIA added a panel with Nóra Demeter, Michael Ford, and Cheryl McAfee, moderated by Frances Anderton.

Diller will be sharing a stage with last year’s Pritzker Prize winner, Alejandro Aravena, as well as Francis Kéré, who will be designing the Serpentine Pavilion this summer. The inclusion of several significant architects follows criticism of last year's lineup, which favored non-architect celebrities over practitioners.

This year the AIA Conference on Architecture will be held on Orlando and will revolve around the theme ‘Antic...

"A stack of neighborhoods": DS+R's design for Rubenstein Forum revealed

2016-05-26T12:46:00-04:00

The University of Chicago, weary of holding large events off-campus, hired Diller, Scofidio and Renfro to design a 90,000 square foot, multi-faceted meeting place. The result is the Rubenstein Forum, which will be placed next to the Harris School of Public Policy’s future Keller Center and across the Midway from Rockefeller Chapel.

In terms of the design concept, Liz Diller stated that "we composed the tower as a stack of ‘neighborhoods’ with meeting and communal spaces of all sizes—both formal and informal, calm and animated, focused and diffuse. The building prompts its varied populations to cross paths with one another where possible to enhance intellectual exchange. The lower floors of the Rubenstein Forum are porous and dynamic with connections to the campus and the community in all directions. As one climbs the building, there is a progressive retreat from the everyday to more contemplative spaces with dramatic views of Chicago and Lake Michigan.”

What else is DS+R up to these ...

Editor's Picks #353

2014-02-05T14:37:00-05:00

For the latest edition of Working out of the Box, Archinect talked with Miguel McKelvey, Co-Founder & Chief Creative Officer at WeWork. He just so happened to study architecture at University of Oregon with Paul Petrunia, Archinect's founder!

Mr. McKelvey explains "I have applied what I learned in architecture to pretty much every aspect of building a business - and for the right person, I would make the argument that architecture is a better preparation for being an entrepreneur than business school is".

Meanwhile edition #6 of Screen/Print an experiment in translation across media, highlights MONU's 19th issue, Greater Urbanism.

News

Archinect contributors / Parsons MArch students Ayesha Ghosh and Alex Stewart attended a panel discussion regarding MoMA expansion and Folk Museum demolition. The event was hosted jointly by the Architectural League, the Municipal Art Society, and the AIA's New York chapter and everyone in the audience missed the State of the Union address.

Ayesha and Alex...

Christopher Hawthorne interviews Elizabeth Diller regarding MoMA plans

2014-01-16T11:42:00-05:00

"I think that the press has been too fast to reduce the conversation to heroes and villains and martyrs, and to suggest that what MoMA is doing is necessarily bad. We want to get more information out. We want to share the problem with others and invite them to really take a hard look" - Elizabeth Diller

They discuss the almost uniformly negative reaction to the announcement as well as the details of DS+R’s proposal for MoMA, which is still in an early design phase.

In response Michael Kimmelman tweeted "Her answers are deeply unsatisfying".