Architecture has been male-dominated forever, and I am a grateful beneficiary of the women's movement. Elizabeth Diller More Quotes by Elizabeth Diller More Quotes From Elizabeth Diller Whenever I ask Siri for directions or a recommendation, I also ask her a trick question. Her answers are usually wacky. She scolds me for cursing, which I love, but she has no problem with ethics. If I say, 'Remind me to rob a bank at 3 P.M.,' she responds, 'Here's your reminder for today at 3 P.M.: Rob a bank. Shall I create it?' Elizabeth Diller me ethics today love My interest was always to do interdisciplinary work with space. I thought of architecture as one strand in a multimedia practice. Elizabeth Diller architecture space practice work Architecture is a technology. And it's involved in all of the different networks of systems that produce architecture - including politics, economics, social and cultural conditions. So architecture is already in technology. Elizabeth Diller architecture politics technology The public brings our buildings to life, and we try to choreograph a lot of things, but our most successful work functions in unanticipated ways. Like the Blur Building. When little kids got in there, they cried or laughed or ran around. And no matter how much theory we put on top of it, it didn't matter: it worked. Elizabeth Diller blur building work life We like to take impossible things and actually make them happen. Elizabeth Diller happen things like impossible We're always taught that we're building for permanence, but why? I like the idea of a prosthetic architecture! When a section is removed, the building readjusts its weight distribution, like a living body. Elizabeth Diller always building architecture body Architects typically inherit programmes or sites. We maybe twist the programme a little bit, bring our own invention into it, and we feel perfectly happy when we walk away. It doesn't feel like quite enough. Elizabeth Diller walk feel enough happy Aside from keeping the rain out and producing some usable space, architecture is nothing but a special-effects machine that delights and disturbs the senses. Elizabeth Diller nothing architecture space rain We conventionally divide space into private and public realms, and we know these legal distinctions very well because we've become experts at protecting our private property and private space. But we're less attuned to the nuances of the public. Elizabeth Diller legal know property space In the 1970s, New York was known as a place of great artistic production. Slowly, my city went from a place of production to a place of consumption. Elizabeth Diller city new place great I think idiosyncrasy is great. Elizabeth Diller i-think great think I hate digital calendars, so I use pen and paper or the palm of my hand for my daily schedule. I get much more satisfaction out of physically crossing things out than deleting. Elizabeth Diller pen daily hate satisfaction Many tools are indispensable for my work, from a utility knife to parametric-modeling software, like Digital Project. But it's important not to confuse the tool for the content, as some designers under 30 do. Elizabeth Diller knife digital important work I can't live without my 15-inch MacBook Pro. I drag it everywhere I go. I love having a big screen with me at all times, especially in transit. Elizabeth Diller live go me love I cannot read on a Kindle. I love the physical experience of holding a book, cracking it open, and the process of making the right half weigh less than the left half. I only read hardcover books because I like the resistance and the presence on a bookshelf. Elizabeth Diller experience process love book We try to make buildings last long and be resilient but also be not so idiosyncratic that they can't change. Elizabeth Diller buildings try change long In art school, it was about feeling. In architecture school, it was about ideas. Elizabeth Diller feeling architecture art school Architecture, by definition, is always standing still. Elizabeth Diller still always standing architecture Architects and food at a construction site equals indigestion. We're always looking for details that haven't been executed correctly. Elizabeth Diller looking construction details food My mother and father had been through the Holocaust. The family was wiped out. I grew up never knowing aunts, uncles, or grandparents. Elizabeth Diller never family mother father
