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Diller
+ Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function,
by Guido Incerti, Daria Ricchi, and Deane Simpson.
All too often monographs are an opportunity
for publishers, authors, and readers to survey and categorize
the transformations and themes within an architect of office's
work, even though architects may seldom approach their own
work with such a linear or compartmentalized approach. Diller
Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is such an office. They see
their production since 1979 (as Diller + Scofidio until
the 2004 "partnering" of Charles Renfro) to present
as an interdisciplinary and critical approach to the creation
of objects and environments that is not dependent upon scale
or program. Therefore, each project is not easily separated
into particular themes or strands from other projects. This
trait does not stop the authors from sensing and attempting
such a separation, one that works both linearly and categorically
via splitting the book into three sections: introductory
essays, projects I and projects II.
Each of the book's authors presents
an essay focusing on different aspects of the office's work:
Ricchi gives a somewhat general overview that grounds them
in the New York City context where they live and work; Simpson
looks at how the office actually works from day to day,
how they produce their designs; Incerti tackles the designers'embrace
of technology and electronic and other media in their work.
As an architect, Simpson's essay is the most rewarding,
as it illustrates what makes DS+R different from, for example,
FxFowle
(the large office who they are working with on the Lincoln
Center renovation now under construction) and more aligned
with the Skunkworks
group from WWII-era Lockheed Martin. From hands-on assembly
of various components in DS+R's studio to an embrace of
"taking risks and failing," the essay clearly
shows how process informs product and why the office cannot
be considered a conventional architectural practice, even
though the majority of their projects today fall under the
category of architecture.
The two sections of projects are
each preceded by "studio iconography," or images
that influence the office, and interviews with the three
on two separate occasions. (In addition to these three sections,
a studio chronology and dvd complete the monograph.) The
first section starts with their first stage set and ends
with an installation of toy robots in the Fondation
Cartier in Paris, from the duo's beginning to 1999.
These years are marked by a plethora of these two types
of designs, with some objects, electronic media, and the
influential (and unfortunately unbuilt) Slow House project
as well. The second section picks up with 2000's Brasserie
and continues to the High Line and a townhouse in Manhattan.
Basically, these two sections isolate the "media"
projects from the "architecture" and "urban
design" that the office is currently inundated with.
As one reads the interviews, one realizes that this progression
towards large-scale building owes less to their unwavering
approach to a critical, interdisciplinary practice than
to the realities of being successful, growing, and taking
(larger) projects where the (larger) office won't lose money.
It sounds somewhat deflating, but when one sees the continuity
and conviction of their ideas at all scales, it's easy to
see why the office is so successful and why the design community
is better off for having them around.
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