The High Line’s Charles Renfro
For Charles Renfro of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, architecture is all about experience. Here he talks the High Line, MoMA and the pleasure of creating “problems” for clients
Scan the Manhattan skyline and chances are you’ll encounter a Diller Scofidio + Renfro project. The New York-based practice is responsible for re-shaping some of the city’s most iconic architectural experiences, from the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum to the pedestrian bridge at the Lincoln Center. In the wake of the 2014 expansion of the city’s wildly successful High Line, partner Charles Renfro took time out to chat with Luxury Defined about what’s next…
Diller Scofidio + Renfro was selected to reinvent the High Line, something that has changed the look of New York City and revitalized entire neighborhoods. Tell us about it…
Our winning strategy was to not mess it up, to “save it from architecture.” What caught the eye of the jury, I think, was that we designed out of the existing line itself and out of the city. The design is less an overlaid architecture than an analysis-driven design based on what was there already. The High Line was such a unique project, without precedent in the world. I think we were all slightly skeptical that it would actually come to pass. We were thrilled to have won the design competition but we didn’t believe that it would necessarily happen. There are usually so many false starts on these projects. We thought, what would make this one any different?
We didn’t anticipate the impact the High Line would have on the city. We estimated that it would attract perhaps 350,000 people per year, but it attracts millions and is now one of the most visited cultural locations in New York City.
The remaining railroad [pictured here and above] accounts for just 11 per cent of the original 13-mile track, which stretched from 34th Street to St. John’s Park Terminal. Photographs: Iwan Baan
Each is unique and we’ve put so much love and care into them. But the project I’m most fascinated by is a “company town” in China for a Chinese-owned and operated leather-goods company. We designed a factory and housing complex to accommodate its workforce. What makes this project unique is that we’ve been tasked with rethinking housing and working conditions for laborers. That architecture has been leveraged to effect these changes is hugely exciting for me. So, in a way, we are working at the very root of the consumer economy that we all participate in, whether we like to admit it or not.
How would you describe your own homes? [Renfro has properties on Manhattan and Fire Island.]What is that old saying? “The cobbler’s kids have no shoes”? I spend so much time working on other people’s projects that I don’t really spend very much on my own. However, I collect art and that has ended up influencing my Manhattan residence, and will soon influence my Fire Island home. The art I collect is usually minimal, a little subversive and quirky, and very simple. I would say that’s what I try to achieve with my own spaces. However, I’m a little bit of a pack rat and I keep certain things that have history and meaning in my life, which is why you get journalists like Wendy Goodman [design editor of New York Magazine] coming into my house and saying, “Wow, you live like everybody else!”
How would you sum up your own personal style?
Socks! I am a sock man. I love Paul Smith socks and Happy Feet socks. I tend to wear simple, basic clothes with lots of colorful “flairy” accessories. You make a mark with your accessories. Today I’m wearing purple and black striped socks from Happy Feet, and lots of black clothing, which isn’t typical for me but is very typical for architects. I’m also wearing heavy-framed spectacles.
What would be your dream commission?
I think what would be both a dream and a nightmare commission would be for me to design my own house from scratch. I’ve been toying with the concept for some years now and it’s both thrilling and unnerving. If I were to start work on it today it would feature lots of glazing and be very transformable – able to suit my mood and become a completely outdoor dwelling.
Explore Diller Scofidio + Renfro’s full portfolio of commissions here
