Society of Architectural Historians to Present Change Agent Award to Diller Scofidio + Renfro

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The Society of Architectural Historians will present the inaugural Change Agent Award to the partners of the New York architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro at a reception on Wednesday, July 17, at the Century Club in midtown Manhattan. The award recognizes Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio, Charles Renfro and Benjamin Gilmartin for their innovative, paradigm-shifting work, which takes an interdisciplinary approach to design with a focus on cultural and civic projects.

DS+R is currently working on the renovation and expansion of the Museum of Modern Art, in collaboration with Gensler, a project that increases gallery space by one third, optimizes current spaces to be more flexible and technologically sophisticated, and creates publicly accessible street-level galleries that connect the Museum to the people of midtown Manhattan. Their design of the newly opened, multi-arts center The Shed incorporates an outer shell that moves on rails and transforms to accommodate a variety of large-scale performances, installations and events. Other notable New York projects include the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into the 1.5 mile-long High Line, designed in collaboration with James Corner Field Operations and Piet Oudoul, and the transformation of the iconic Lincoln Center and its public spaces.

Liz Diller will give a short talk on the firm’s most recent and in-progress local projects following the awards ceremony, and the four firm partners will take part in a conversation led by Martino Stierli, The Philip Johnson Chief Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA. The evening will conclude with a cocktail reception and hors d’oeuvres.

Proceeds from the Change Agent Award Reception support SAH in implementing educational programming, developing print and online resources, and carrying out its mission to promote the study, interpretation, and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes, and urbanism worldwide for the benefit of all. Proceeds also benefit the ongoing restoration of SAH’s National Historic Landmark headquarters in Chicago, Charnley-Perksy House (1891–1892), designed by Adler and Sullivan with Frank Lloyd Wright.

Tickets are $195 per person and are available at sah.org/change-agent-award.