Based in New York City, Dino Kiratzidis is an Associate at the New York-based architecture firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. He is also one of the two Artistic Directors of Site-Specific Dances, a non-profit media/performance company exploring projects at the intersection of performance and place, and founded in 2022 with choreographer Michael Spencer Phillips. At DS+R, he has focused on concept and schematic development for projects in the performing arts, museums, institutional buildings and memorials. His work with Site-Specific Dances develops a discursive engagement with sites through analysis, drawings, video, and digital animations. His work makes sense of sites as they are, and speculates on their ‘theatrical potentials’. He also leads the design of S-SD’s stage performances and media installations. He studied at Yale School of Architecture, receiving a Master of Architecture degree. He has been an invited reviewer at Yale University, Pratt Institute and The University of Pennsylvania, and taught design studios at UPenn and Yale (with Joel Sanders and Tom Wiscombe, respectively). Prior to working at DS+R, Dino was a designer at CoopHimmelb(l)au in Vienna and sharpCITY in Johannesburg. He was born in 1984 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was first exposed to the ethos of community-based design during his time at 26’10 South, a research-based design studio in Johannesburg. As a participant in the Johannesburg Drill Hall edition of Cascoland, a collaborative project that ‘re-activated’ a neglected part of the inner city of Johannesburg, he saw first-hand how thoughtful site activations can catalyze positive changes in the urban environment. His work spans buildings, landscapes, memorials, exhibitions, activations and performances. His current independent research explores productive overlaps between performance and architecture/urban design.
Photo: Victor Jeffrys