“She imagines things the rest of us have to see to believe. She can turn a metaphor into brick and mortar.”
This statement explains the role of women in architecture and their contribution which has only been recognized publicly within the last ten years. Socio-economic changes contribute to the popular attitude that each award is a measure of a certain type of inclusion which points out to those areas of the social vulnerability. Such general vulnerability is emphasized by the architecture itself, providing a specific view on the sluggishness of changing stereotypical postulates which raised today’s societies. The winner of this year’s prize for women’s contribution in the field of architecture Jane Drew – Liz Diller unifies through her work an experimental approach (which is significant since it reveals the issues of creator’s relationship as opposed to usual work practices) and theoretical specifications which shifts the matter of today’s architecture and what it should be beyond the socially engaged role.
The size of the need for cultural awareness in terms of space and its intended use which is something above its functionality, is shown by her audacity to combine and add the conceptual spatial dimension while turning it into a metaphor of modern living. Architecture is an experimental frame which allows the advantages of using a shape as an expression tool to be seen. In such manner, she successfully creates spaces that are intended for unification of the human being and materiality of such spaces as the first layer of the meaning in an architectural discourse. Her relationship with the creation illustrates the issues of the modern society that encompass the architecture as well, while being in relation with the matter of identity. In other words, what is the significance of art in forming the cultural identity and in it all, does the spatial identity has a place of its own?
Liz Diller and Ricardo Scofidio have been working together since 1979, and their initial work was based in experimenting in using small spaces and show stages which emphasized the modernist approach of exploring the relationship between the audience and such space. This approach was kept in later phases, being involved in projects in art galleries which cleared their path in conceptual art. Some of their projects (Tourism: SuitCase Studies, Minnesota – 50 suitcases which symbolize federal states and their attractions), represent a form of artistic-commercial intervention which is unusual for an architectural studio. Never the less, such conceptuality cannot be seen in their other projects, so in such manner, they play with the perception of the audience using mirrors, installations and thus, erase the borders between the original intended use of the space and artistic multi-dimensionality which is equally present.
Their most anticipated project is The Shed which will be completed in April this year. It connects the architectural cleverness with the artistic intended use of designed space by simultaneously representing the concepts of the mechanical building in a modernist manner. The most interesting part is the kinetic glass cover, inspired by the work of British architect Cedric Price, which will be used for summer shows.
