New Work: Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Pentagram has designed the new website for Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the New York-based interdisciplinary studio that develops built and conceptual works encompassing architecture, urban design, site-specific installations and the visual and performing arts. DSR’s recent projects include the design of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, the current redevelopment of Lincoln Center and the refurbishment of the High Line, the elevated rail line-cum-park on Manhattan’s West Side that is set to open this winter.
Lisa Strausfeld and her team worked closely with DSR to create a site that reflects the firm’s unique, theory-driven approach. The visual style of the site was inspired by the firm’s rendering technique in which projects are depicted as a montage of flat imagery within three-dimensional space. The site, also rendered in three dimensions, allows for pivotal navigation through a photo view or a text-based index view. Each project is allocated a position in a landscape-like arrangement that shifts on axis from a 3-D view (for the photo view) to a more two-dimensional reader or birds’ eye view (for index view). Within each view, projects can be sorted chronologically or alphabetically, as well as be filtered by category. In the photo view, images of the sorted projects flip up or recede depending upon the criteria selected; in index view, the chosen projects are highlighted in bold. In either view, examining projects in depth will take one through to the other “side” of words or images.
The site is built in Flash and uses Papervision3D, an open source 3D engine for Flash. The designers also developed a content management system so that DSR can continually update the site.
Abbott Miller previously designed a monograph for the firm.
Project Team: Lisa Strausfeld, Takaaki Okada, Christian Swinehart, Christian Marc Schmidt, Christian Croft.