Elizabeth Diller

Architecture has been male-dominated forever, and I am a grateful beneficiary of the women's movement. ”

I believe in planning logics where you have neighbourhoods, and you don't just do one building at a time. ”

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. ”

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. ”

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. ”

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. ”

In a progressively privatised city, the defence of public space, the production of new public space, and saving what is public really for the public is very important. ”

I can't imagine having a spouse who is not an architect. It's hard to put myself in the shoes of other couples where each partner brings totally different things from their day to the table. ”

Being a New Yorker and someone that goes to MoMA as a patron, I want it to be good. ”

As a kid, I imagined being an artist. ”