Liz Diller Lecture

After listening to Liz Diller’s lecture, I was very inspired by many of her works. I was oblivious to the fact that Hejduk was her professor, and that stood out to me because I analyzed his work for a while. After hearing that, i assumed that many of Hejduk’s strategy or mindset of architecture would have left a vast influence upon Liz, however, I believe they think in different ways. Liz seems to think more about the public, and how she can create inventions to accommodate the public. Furthermore, after studying the Wallhouse, Hejduk’s decision of making a wall the serious threshold was an interesting tactic, however, there were many moments in the house that did not seem to accommodate people the way some of Liz’ projects do.

Liz’ quote when explaining the Highline project as a, “Place where you do nothing”, struck out to me. She says that this place is a place where there is an absence of conventions — nonproductivity. I think that is was very interesting that someone took the time out to think about how New York is a productive place that is always assisting people in something. Whether it be working, studying, reading, building, thinking, we are always doing something. Furthermore, having a park 30 feet above the ground is a nice hideaway. The idea of doing “nothing” is absurd to a New Yorker, and Liz made this idea possible with this project.

The second project that was quite prominent to me was the Blur Building. This was the first time hearing about this building, and the idea behind it is quite fascinating. Having the intention on forcing people to use their other senses, not just their visual sense is an interesting approach to manipulating the public. The building has 35,000 (or 3,500?) pipes that use the water from the lake to create the fog. Liz indicated that it was expensive having to filter the water before using it, which I think was a dedicated move to make just to fulfill the project. All in all, the lecture was inspirational and listening to Liz speak about her projects and ideas aspired some of my ideas.