Elizabeth Diller
Wolf Prize Laureate in Architecture 2022
Elizabeth Diller
Award citation:
“for her exceptional and influential work connecting architecture to artistic practice, engaged in the public domain”.
Prize share:
Elizabeth Diller
Momoyo Kaijima
Yoshiharu Tsukamoto
At a time of considerable world change, when social and cultural values have been questioned, these three are outstanding in challenging norms to advance the field of architecture and its wider influence. Whilst very different in their production, they share a common vital quality of bringing research, pedagogy and practice into critical confluence for the advancement of their field. In doing so, they reveal the degree to which art, science, and engagement with society, require values that can be interrogated and challenged, as a central part of their contribution. Conscious of the wider affects of architecture, each recipient embodies the idea of collaboration in varied ways, embracing geographic, cultural and methodological differences to be celebrated: excellence through diversity. With their radical architectural visions, they continue to be meaningful influencers of future architectural generations. They have developed the agency of architecture through an expanded field, in engaging politics, the city as the base for social action, and the imperative of reaching broader audiences.
Elizabeth Diller, a Polish-born American architect, Professor of Architectural Design at Princeton University, Diller began her studies at Cooper Union in the 70s, with the interest of becoming a filmmaker but eventually was drawn to study architecture. Elizabeth talks of the influence that the New York cultural scene, which at that time was a hotbed of creativity and alternative thinking, had on her work. She was greatly moved by looking at the works of people from various fields including Stanley Kubrick, the filmmaker, and the artist, Gordon Matta-Clark. Inherent in her work is the intention and ability to break the boundaries between art and architecture. During her studies at Cooper Union, Elizabeth met her future spouse and partner Ricardo Scofidio, who together founded the firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Her practice specializes in buildings for cultural institutions and has made groundbreaking projects that radically present her propositions to the wider public.
Elizabeth Diller has completed groundbreaking projects in the connected worlds of art and architecture, radically representing her propositions to the wider public. With three decades of work between academia, research and practice, her efforts have radicalized the relationship between architecture, art and the engagement of a larger audience. Many key works of her studio, Diller Scofidio + Renfro – including notably, Blur Building from the 2002 Swiss Expo to the High Line which first opened in 2009 in New York – have involved designing public spaces with an emphasis on scenographies that migrate from performing and visuals arts spaces to the urban landscape. These environmental projects are informed and activated by Diller and partner Ricardo Scofidio’s early, self-generated and alternative projects, including “para-site”, installed at MoMA in 1989, as well as the Mile-Long Opera, a performance Diller co- created and directed in 2019, featuring 1,000 singers along the High Line. This approach has transformed the ways in which new subjectivities are conceived.