Diller Scofidio + Renfro founder Ricardo Scofidio dies aged 89

New York architect Ricardo Scofidio, who designed the city's High Line and The Shed cultural centre, has passed away at 89.

Scofidio, who led New York studio Diller Scofidio + Renfro with his partner Elizabeth Diller and architect Charles Renfro, was responsible for numerous high-profile buildings in the city.

He passed away March 6, with the news announced on the studio's Instagram account.

"It is with great sadness that we announce DS+R founder Ricardo Scofidio has passed away peacefully on March 6, 2025 at the age of 89," said the statement.

"He was surrounded by his family, including his partner in life and work, Elizabeth Diller," it continued.

"Ric had a profound impact on our architectural practice, establishing the studio with a mission to make space on his own terms. The firm's partners and principals, many of whom have collaborated with him for decades, will extend his architectural legacy in the work we will continue to perform every day."

Among the studio's best-known works are a series of cultural buildings in New York including the High Line, which was created in collaboration with Field Operations and Piet Oudolf.

Also in the city, the studio created The Shed cultural centre, designed a major expansion to the Museum of Modern Art, renovated the Lincoln Center and designed the 15 Hudson Yards residential skyscraper.

Outside of New York, the studio has created numerous high-profile projects including the Broad in LA, V&A East in London and Zaryadye Park in Moscow.

A life-long New Yorker, Scofidio was born in the city in 1935 and went on to study architecture Cooper Union School of Architecture and then Columbia University.

He began teaching at the Cooper Union in 1965 and founded the studio that became Diller Scofidio + Renfro along with Diller in 1981. Renfro joined the studio in 1997.

The studio's early projects aimed to blur the boundaries between art and architecture. They included an installation called Traffic in 1981 that placed 3,000 traffic cones in Columbus Circle for 24 hours, and the appropriately named Blur pavilion on a lake in Switzerland.

Today, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which is still based in New York, employs 100 people. It has received numerous awards including the 2009 Royal Academy Architecture Prize, while Scofidio was named alongside Diller as one of Time's most influential people in the world in the same year.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro announced that a memorial service is being planned with details to be announced in the next couple of weeks.

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