Piano The Builder

This selection of articles on Renzo Piano’s life and work begins with a short biography and ends with an extensive conversation held in his home at Punta Nave, in which the architect from Genoa looks back on his long trajectory, from his formative years to current projects around the world and the support he provides to young people through his Foundation. In between is a chronological reprinting of texts on different episodes of his career, which is sometimes contrasted with the approach of other architects. The airport of Kansai explores scale as the headquarters of The New York Times does height, while the church devoted to Padre Pío and the convent in Ronchamp offer solutions differing from the usual religious commission. But museums are perhaps the architectural type in which he has been most influential, from the mythical Pompidou he did with Richard Rogers to that absolute masterwork that the Menil is, and on to his first project in Spain, the Botín Centre in Santander. All these buildings evince a combination of technological refinement, love of craftsmanship, and civic sensibility.