Elizabeth Diller Lecture

The Blur Building is about making a building you can inhabit. Liz Diller used fog as architecture, making the site itself the material of the architecture. The structure is a tensegrity structure. The fog moves with wind creating an ever changing space.

“Our culture measures success in pixels per inch” Liz Diller. Diller was exploring how to create a low res architecture. She used water to produce a problem for vision and force focus on the other senses.

How do you go from a competition to actually building? Many problems can present themselves when moving from hypothetical to actual. This building opened up whole new public to Diller’s architecture.

The main focus of the High Line was how do you bring the public up to the space while maintaining the abandoned and other worldly feeling. The high line doesn’t have a particular program. It isn’t even a regular park. You can’t walk your dog or ride your bike there. Diller used the space to create zone of sanctioned nothing for a culture that doesn’t know how to do nothing.

The park brought up some interesting questions since it is 30 ft up in the air. How do you empty the garbage cans? How do you access it? How often do you access it? If you are being stalked how do you escape? Diller had to deal with these questions while she was designing.

“Architects typically inherit program” Diller. This was not the case for the Culture Shed. Diller was able to decide the program. She used the space to combine visual arts and preforming arts as well as the creative industry. The building is designed to be able to earn income so it does not have to rely on federal money. The shed roles out onto a public plaza, doubling its foot print.

Diller also designed the D Tower as a way to protect the culture shed. The shed nests into the lower levels of the tower. The lowest 10 floors are the mechanics necessary for the shed. The rest of the building is condos and businesses.