Lincoln Center Inside Out: An Architectural Account

The redesign of Lincoln Center is one of the most challenging and innovative civic projects in recent urban history. Over the past eight years, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), in close collaboration with FXFOWLE, Beyer Blinder Belle and Lincoln Center’s leadership, has transformed the 50-year-old modernist citadel into a porous and democratic campus.

This visually rich document is the first comprehensive book to feature the extensive redevelopment in its entirety. Lincoln Center Inside Out details DS+R’s interpretation of the modernist project after several generations of social and political change. Through a combination of photographs, drawings, renderings, archival records and texts, the book describes the innovative strategies that have dissolved the public/private divide and effectively turned the campus inside-out, extending the spectacle of the performance halls into the Center’s mute public spaces and surrounding streets. Conceived as a cross between an art book, a scholarly record and an architectural diary, this publication demonstrates how the recent redesign both respects and challenges preconceived notions about Lincoln Center and its ongoing role as a cultural hub in an ever-changing city.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro is a transdisciplinary practice that spans the fields of architecture, urban planning, landscape design, visual arts, performing arts, digital media and print. DS+R is led by Elizabeth Diller, Ricardo Scofidio and Charles Renfro, who collaborate with a group of architects and artists in their New York-based studio.