AL GIGLIO | DATE 4/11/2013

Diller, Scofidio + Renfro Discuss 'Lincoln Center Inside Out' at the NYPL

On a sparkling Spring evening, the New York Public Library hosted an intimate conversation with starchitects Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro, (DS+R), moderated by MoMA's curator of architecture Barry Bergdoll.

From left: Renfro, Scofidio, Diller and Bergdoll.

The focus of the talk was DS+R's decade-long renewal of Lincoln Center, New York's essential yet much critiqued performing arts campus.

Hypar Pavilion as seen from the bosque, photographed by Iwan Baan, 2010.

DS+R was brought on to do a bit of the complex, but their limited commission turned into a full scale re-envisioning of all the public spaces, including Alice Tully Hall, below, as photographed by Iwan Baan in 2008.

The original design of Lincoln Center turned its back on the neighborhood and was designed as a complex that the monied set would reach by car.

Revson Fountain by day, photographed by Iwan Baan, 2011.

DS+R's principal achievement was to turn the campus into one of New York's most welcoming public spaces, allowing for social theater to occur mirroring the theatrics that happen inside.

Fashion Week pre-show activity, photographed by Iwan Baan, 2010.

The book Lincoln Center Inside Out embodies these same ideas in its construction and design.

Hypar lawn looking west, photographed by Iwan Baan, 2011.

If you just flip through the book you see full bleed glossy architectural photography of the type described by Diller as architecture porn.

Juilliard facade detail as seen from Avery Fisher Hall, photographed by Matthew Monteith, 2011.

But each spread opens as a gatefold containing a massive amount of behind-the-scenes information from correspondences, renderings, sketches and research imagery, which reveals a fascinating story of what it means to do large scale public architecture in New York City today.

One gatefold provides information about the new fountain's 353 custom-made, computer-controlled display nozzles and 272 submerged waterproof lights; a rendering of the Equipment Room, and plaza wind analysis, among other details.