‘I Never Wanted to Be an Architect’

The interview begins with Diller making the statement of this post's title, admitting that she wanted to be an artist. But she was deterred by her parents, who told her artists don't make money, and the architectural offerings at the Cooper Union, where she was enrolled in the art school, managed to spark her lifelong interest in architecture. Today, five decades later, Diller is, in the words of the Louisiana Channel, “one of the heroes of contemporary architecture.”

Over the course of the video's 41 minutes, Diller talks about her background, some early influences, the tools she uses to design, the city where she lives and works, the role of public space in cities, the relationship between architecture and memory, the role of the architect, and saving architecture from becoming obsolete. She also discusses a couple DS+R projects in some depth: the High Line, which has transformed Manhattan's West Side since before its first phase even opened in 2009, and the V&A East Storehouse, which will open to the public in London next year.