Visionary architect Elizabeth Diller to deliver keynote lecture at Cersaie 2025

(September 2025)| US architect Elizabeth Diller, partner at Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), will deliver the keynote lecture in Cersaie’s “Building, Dwelling, Thinking” programme. The conference, introduced by architecture historian Fulvio Irace, will take place on Tuesday 23 September at 11 a.m. in the Palazzo dei Congressi.

Diller founded the New York-based design studio DS+R together with Ricardo Scofidio in 1981. This interdisciplinary practice integrates architecture, urban design, installation art and multimedia performance. With more than 100 staff including architects, designers, artists and researchers, DS+R explores how space functions in our culture and illustrates that architecture, when understood as the physical manifestation of social relationships, is everywhere, not just in buildings. Its projects rethink the role of public space and challenge architectural and social conventions through a close reading of the geographical and cultural context.

In recognition of her visionary and pioneering work, Time magazine named Diller to its 2018 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 1999, together with Scofidio, her partner in life and work, she became the first recipient of the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in the field of architecture and environmental design. The award honoured their work in creating an alternative form of architectural practice that unites design and performance into a unique language.

They spearheaded two of New York’s most iconic contemporary architectural projects: the High Line, a 1.5-mile-long urban park built on an abandoned elevated railroad, and the renovation of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, home to the Juilliard School, Alice Tully Hall and the School of American Ballet. Other innovative architectural projects include The Shed, a cultural centre with a mobile structure designed to expand and contract; the renovation and extension project for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York; and The Broad, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles.

Born in Poland in 1954, Diller moved to the United States as a child and studied at the Cooper Union School of Architecture. She is currently a Professor of Architecture at Princeton University and a member of the United Nations Council on Urban Initiatives.

Participants in the conference are entitled to 2 professional educational credits for architects. Attendance of Cersaie itself qualifies for a further educational credit, which can be obtained by providing self-certification and attaching a copy of the entrance ticket.