Diller Scofidio + Renfro Wins Royal Academy Architecture Prize

Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio, founding partners of DS+R, have been awarded the 2019 Royal Academy Architecture Prize by the Royal Academy of Arts in London, marking the second year of the award established for the Academy's 250th anniversary. The prize recognizes architects whose work engages the public and contributes to culture, shaping discourse on architecture. Diller and Scofidio, who have collaborated since 1981, are currently renovating MoMA (closed June to October 2019), building The Shed in New York (opening April 2019), and designing the London Center for Music. They gained international fame with the 2002 Blur Building on Lake Neuchâtel, Switzerland, and the High Line redevelopment in New York. The unanimous jury, including Alan Stanton, Louisa Hutton, Ricky Burdett, Kirsty Wark, and Lesley Lokko, praised the firm's interdisciplinary work expanding architectural ideas and urban culture. Diller also recently received the Jane Drew Prize 2019 and was named to Time's 2018 Top 100 most influential people. The prize week runs May 13–17, featuring the Royal Academy Dorfman Award announcement among four emerging finalists: Fernanda Canales (Mexico), Alice Casey and Cian Deegan (TAKA, Ireland), Mariam Kamara (Atelier Masōmī, Niger), and Boomserm Premthada (Bangkok Project Studio, Thailand), along with lectures and workshops.