Thinking about Price’s Fun Palace. Tianjin Juilliard School by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

For the past 70 years, the East China Academy has fully served the national development strategy, adhering to the core values ​​of "efficiency, cooperation, leadership, dedication, and innovation." It has maintained a leading international and national development position and is committed to providing innovative, integrated design and consulting services for high-quality urban and rural development.

As a leading force in national urban and rural construction, the East China Academy has a deeply rooted work system in key national strategic development areas. Headquartered in Shanghai and Shenzhen, it has 23 regional divisions and branches in key national regions and major cities, including the Yangtze River Delta, the Greater Bay Area, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Central China, and the Southwest and Northwest. Internationally, the East China Academy's design projects span more than 30 countries and regions.

In recent years, the East China Academy has completed numerous key projects in major cities and areas across the country, including the North Bund World Congress Hall, the New BRICS Bank Headquarters, the National Convention and Exhibition Center (Shanghai), the Hong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the Zhuhai Port and Macau Port Project, the Hongqiao Comprehensive Transportation Hub, the Pudong International Airport Terminal, and the Satellite Hall. The East China Academy has won thousands of awards, including international, national, provincial, and municipal design awards, engineering awards, scientific and technological progress awards, and engineering consulting awards. It has also edited and published numerous national and local engineering construction standards, norms, and regulations.

The East China Academy brings together more than 4,500 leading professionals from around the world.

Ricardo Scofidio, AIA (Born on April 16, 1935 in New York, and died on March 6, 2025 in New York,), was a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Scofidio studied at Columbia University before practising at a New York architecture firm and becoming a professor at the Cooper Union School of Architecture in 1965 for several decades. It was there he met then-student Diller, almost 20 years his junior, and they founded their studio in 1981, in 1999, they were the first architects to receive a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant (Architect Charles Renfro’s name was added after he became a partner more than two decades later). 

Alongside partner Elizabeth Diller, Ric’s cross-genre work distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture. He led the design of the High Line – the adaptive reuse of an obsolete, industrial rail infrastructure into a 1.5 mile-long public park, Blur Building – a pavilion made of fog on Lake Neuchâtel for the 2002 Swiss Expo, and contributed to the redesign of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York, and The Broad in Los Angeles.

Ric spearheads many of the studio’s independent works, including Soft Sell, a video installation in an abandoned porn theatre in Times Square; Tourisms: suitCase Studies, an investigation of American tourist attractions at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and Musings on a Glass Box for the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in Paris. He is a Professor Emeritus at The Cooper Union School of Architecture.

Elizabeth Diller, (Poland,1954), is a partner of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). Alongside partner Ricardo Scofidio, Diller’s cross-genre work has been distinguished with TIME’s "100 Most Influential People" list and the first MacArthur Foundation fellowship awarded in the field of architecture.

Elizabeth Diller has also received the Wolf Prize in Architecture. Most recently, she led two cultural works significant to New York: The Shed and the expansion of MoMA. Diller also co-created, -directed and -produced The Mile-Long Opera, an immersive choral work staged on the High Line. Diller is a member of the UN Council on Urban Initiatives and a Professor of Architectural Design at Princeton University.

Charles Renfro, AIA (Baytown, Texas in 1964) joined Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) in 1997 and became a Partner in 2004. He led the design and construction of the studio’s first concert hall outside of the US - The Tianjin Juilliard School in China - as well as the studio's first public park outside of the US - Zaryadye Park in Moscow. Charles has also led the design of much of DS+R's academic portfolio, with projects completed at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, Brown University, the University of Chicago, and the recently completed Columbia Business School.

Charles is also leading the design of two projects in his native Texas: the renovation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kalita Humphreys Theater in Dallas, and Sarofim Hall, a new home for Rice University’s Visual Arts department in Houston. Charles is the Co-President of BOFFO, a nonprofit organization that supports the work of queer LGBTQ+ BIPOC artists and designers. He has twice been recognized with the "Out100" list and has also been distinguished as a notable LGBTQ leader by Crain's New York Business. He is a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts.