Ricardo Scofidio, who cofounded the Diller Scofidio + Renfro architecture practice, has died.
Established in 1981 by Scofidio and Elizabeth Diller, the husband and wife firm’s projects included the High Line in New York and Zaryadye Park in Moscow; museums and private arts institutions including Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Broad in Los Angeles; The Shed in New York, the MoMA 2019 extension in New York. Charles Renfro joined as a partner in 1997.
Scofidio was born in New York to June, who was of mixed Black heritage, and Earle, a Black jazz musician; the couple told their son he was Italian to circumnavigate racial prejudice. He enrolled at the Cooper Union School of Architecture and then Columbia University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1960. He began teaching at the Cooper Union in 1965, where Diller was a student. After her graduation they started dating.
Scofidio and his team participated in six editions of the Venice Architecture Biennale and showed at the 2003 art edition of the biennial. This year, Diller Scofidio + Renfro will take part in the Architecture Biennale (curated by Carlo Ratti) with a project in the Arsenale aimed at making Venice’s waters a symbol of transformation. The practice also designed the soon-to-open V&A East Storehouse in London’s Olympic Park.
