Liz Diller and Ricardo Scofidio

What happens when folks used to the rarefied air of conceptual art have to operate at ground level? It's a plunge avant-garde architect-artists Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio made when they agreed to renovate a New York City restaurant.

The husband-and-wife team are best known for conceptual mixed-media installations using video images, such as their display of the contents of travelers' suitcases at an airport, or a performance piece about a woman who flew between Amsterdam and New York more than 150 times to keep custody of her grandson.

But for the Brasserie in the basement of the Seagram building--a modernist icon--they had to contend with a real client. "We were interested in the social aspects of dining--the restaurant culture," says Diller. The restaurateur was more interested in how many tables would fit. But they seemed to find a meeting place. The restaurant--with videos above the bar broadcasting the entrance of patrons, and liquor bottles suspended behind frosted glass like fruit in Jell-O--is generating buzz. So while the duo, who have done scant building before, aren't seeking more interiors work, it's clear they will be sought after.

Would-be clients will have to compete with a cloud. Diller and Scofidio's next project is a space for Swiss Expo 2002 that will sit high above a lake in Yverdon-les-Bains, shrouded in mist created by 15,000 high-pressure water nozzles.