Renzo Piano - Post Modern : Task 2

Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano born in Genoa, Italy in 1937. He studied at the Milan Politecno 1959-1964, where he taught until 1968. Renzo Piano fascinated himself with the interrelationship between the structural components of construction was sparked from an early age. Renzo established a partnership with the English architect Ricard Rogers in 1970. 

Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers designed a number of buildings in Italy and England but their most famous building is the Pompidou Centre in Paris. This was all colour coded service elements emphasised on the buildings exterior. The public opinion has shifted since this building was finished. Today the city is celebrating for it boldness and widely regarded as one of the city´s most permanent contemporary landmarks.

Pompidou Centre in Paris by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers

 Renzo Piano is known as one of the members of the ‘‘High Tech’’ movement because he included technology as a starting point for the designs. He made many attempts to generate an architecture character based on technological forms for more comfortable and people with special needs.

When Richard Rogers left the group to setup his own practice in 1977 Renzo Piano continued to work with Peter Rice which he was an engineer. In 1981 Renzo Piano founded the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, he started to practice but now it employs around 150 people in office across the world in Paris, New York City as well in Genoa, Italy which is his home town.

Renzo Piano had started a controversy just after the fall of the Berlin Wall. This gave him a master plan for the new Potzdamer Platz in Berlin. The project was criticised for its lack of regard to the history of the site.

He also took some inspiration from Rietveld´s Schröder House, he designed it with many windows so natural light comes in and less energy is used.

Schröder House by Gerrit Rietveld

 In his recent work Renzo Piano started to use his structural experiments to a range of social and civic projects. It also included the expansion of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Modern Wing and Europe´s tallest skyscraper The Shard in London. He is one of the greatest architect of his generation, so the AIA gave him the honour with its recent announcement that the American Institute of Architects 2008 Gold Medal is going to Renzo Piano the Italian architect. This work looks Beautiful and it internets with the seem of nature with technology. 

He also designed our Maltese Parlament and ‘‘Bieb il-Belt’’ in Malta although it is under construction we can see that he managed to combine the old historical buildings in Valletta which were built by the Knights of Saint John and the two new contemporary buildings.

Maltese Parlament 

Referencing :

Renzo Piano. 2002. Arc Space. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.arcspace.com/features/renzo-piano-/. [Accessed 06 January 14].

Richard Rogers Ltd. 2000. Centre Pompidou. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.richardrogers.co.uk/work/buildings/centre_pompidou/completed. [Accessed 06 January 14].

Artifice.Inc. 1994. Renzo Piano. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Renzo_Piano.html. [Accessed 06 January 14].

McGraw Hill Financial. 2014. Architecture Record . [ONLINE] Available at: http://archrecord.construction.com/news/2011/06/110629-Stavros-Niarchos-Cultural-Center.asp. [Accessed 06 January 14].

Nasher. 1998. Nasher Sculpture Centre. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.nashersculpturecenter.org/Building-and-Garden/Renzo-Piano. [Accessed 06 January 14].

ArchDaily . 2008. AD Classics: Rietveld Schroder House / Gerrit Rietveld. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/99698/ad-classics-rietveld-schroder-house-gerrit-rietveld/. [Accessed 06 January 14].