Renzo Piano Building Workshop

The Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) was established in 1981 by Renzo Piano with offices in Genoa, Italy and Paris, France. The Workshop has since expanded and now also operates from New York.

The Workshop permanently employs about 100 architects together with a further 30 support staff including CAD operators, model makers, archivers, administrative and secretarial staff.

Our architects are of many nationalities and each is selected for his or her experience, enthusiasm and calibre.

Our staff has a wide experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams on building projects in France, Italy and abroad.

As architects, we usually provide full architectural design services and consultancy services during the construction phase. Our design skills also include interior design services, town planning and urban design services, landscape design services and exhibition design services.

The firm is licensed to practice architecture in France. Renzo Piano personally is registered as an architect in France and Italy.

The Workshop has successfully undertaken and completed projects around the world.

Currently, the main projects in progress are: the new Whitney Museum and Columbia University’s Manhattanville development project in New York City, the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens; the Valletta City Gate in Malta, the Paris Courthouse in Paris and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, Los Angeles.

Major projects already completed by RPBW include: the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; the Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel; the Rome Auditorium; the reconstruction of the Potsdamer Platz area in Berlin; the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas; the New York Times Building in New York; the Kansaï International Airport Terminal Building in Osaka; the Kanak Cultural Center in Nouméa, New Caledonia; the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco; the Chicago Art Institute expansion in Chicago, Illinois; the London Bridge Tower in London; the Kimbell Art Museum expansion, the Harvard museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Valletta City Gate in Malta, Italy, the Intesa Sanpaolo office building in Turin, Italy the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and others throughout the world.

Exhibitions of Renzo Piano and the Building Workshop’s works have been held in many cities worldwide, including major retrospectives exhibition in 2000 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and at the Neue National Galerie in Berlin, in 2007 at the Milan Triennale, in 2014 at Palazzo della Ragione in Padua and in 2015 at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai, China and in September 2015 at the Cité de l’Architecture in Paris.

Biography

Renzo Piano was born into a family of builders in Genoa, in 1937.

He graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 1964, and during his studies he worked with Franco Albini. He has collaborated with Richard Rogers from 1971 (Piano and Rogers), and with Peter Rice from 1977 (Atelier Piano & Rice).

In 1981, he established “Renzo Piano Building Workshop”, which currently employs 150 staff and has offices in Paris and Genoa.

RPBW has designed buildings all around the world: the Menil Collection in Houston, the terminal for Kansai International Airport in Osaka, the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre in New Caledonia, Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, the extension of the Morgan Library in New York, the Maison Hermès in Tokyo, the New York Times headquarters, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago, the rehabilitation of the Ronchamp site, the London Bridge Tower (The Shard) in London, the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, of the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth and of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the redevelopment and enlargement of the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge, and the new Whitney Museum of American Art.

He has received numerous awards and recognitions including: the Royal Gold Medal, 1989; the Goodwill Ambassador of UNESCO, 1994; the Praemium Imperiale, 1995; the Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1998; the Gold Medal AIA, 2008.

In September 2013 Renzo Piano was appointed senator for life by the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano and in May 2014 he received the Columbia University Honorary Degree.

Design Philosophy & Team Organization

My main offices in Genoa and Paris permanently employ a team of 100 architects, together with a support staff including publicists, archivists, model makers, administrators and clerical staff. Our architects come from around the world, each selected for his or her own experience, enthusiasm and abilities.

Each project is controlled by one of RPBW’s project coordinators who manages a designated team of architects and support staff from the early design stage to its completion.

I personally lead each project from conception through schematic and design stage. My daily direct involvement continues until I am personally satisfied that the design proposals and concepts have been successfully achieved through close collaboration and development with the client.

During the construction phase I frequently visit the site to inspect the progress and quality of the work; between these visits the project coordinator in charge of the site keeps me regularly informed on its status.

I try to make my workshop a place to undertake the search for “balance,” rejecting confinement within formalism, eliminating boundaries that might interrupt my process. All kinds of materials, environments, ways of thinking, sensibilities and methodologies must combine together without any obstructions. Encompassing distinct times and objects, the balance emerging from this process generates a particular solution for a given architecture. These are the reasons why I believe that details and wholes, nature and technology, tradition and future, as well as rules and freedom can coexist without contradiction.

This is the balance of my architecture. There must be a symbiotic relationship between the collective needs of the public and the personal needs of the individual, further elaborated in the rapport between the building and its environmental context.

Libri e monografie

- R. Piano, M. Arduino, M. Fazio:

Antico é bello, il recupero della città, Editori Laterza, Bari 1980

- M. Dini: Renzo Piano. Progetti e architetture 1964-1983, Electa, Milano 1983

-Edizioni francese, Electa Moniteur, Parigi 1983

-Edizione inglese, Architectural Press, Londra 1983

- G. Donin: Renzo Piano. Pezzo per pezzo, Casa del libro, Bari 1982

- R. Piano: Chantier ouvert au public Arthaud, Parigi 1985

-Edizione italiana, Dialoghi di cantiere, Laterza, Bari 1986

- R. Piano: Progetti e Architetture 1984-1986, Electa, Milano 1986

- R. Piano: Renzo Piano, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Parigi 1987

- R. Piano, R. Rogers: Du Plateau Beaubourg au Centre G.Pompidou, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Paris 1987

- U. Eco, F. Zeri, R. Piano, A. Graziani:

Le Isole del tesoro, Electa, Milano 1989

- R. Piano: Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1964-1988, A+U extra edition, Tokyo 1989

- R. Piano: Renzo Piano Building and projects 1971-1989, Rizzoli International, New York 1989

-Edizione spagnola, Gustavo Gili, Madrid 1990

- B. Nerozzi: GB Progetti, Monografia dal titolo “La Nave Crown Princess” N. 3/4, Ottobre/Novembre 1990

- R. Piano: In search of a balance- Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1964-1991, Process architecture, Tokyo n° 100, 1992

- B. Nerozzi: GB Progetti, Monografia dal titolo “Il Porto di Genova 1992”, N. 7, Maggio 1991

- C. Garbato, M. Mastropietro:

Exhibit & Design Lybra Edizioni, Milano 1992

- P. Buchanan: Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Complete works Vol.1, Phaidon Press, London 1993

-Edizione Italiana, Allemandi, Torino 1994

-Edizione francese, Flammarion, Parigi 1994

-Edizione tedesca, Hatje Cantz, Stoccarda 1994

- V.M. Lampugnani:

Renzo Piano. Progetti e Architetture 1987-1994, Electa, Milano 1994

Edizione tedesca, D. Verlags-Anstalt, Stoccarda 1994

Edizione inglese, Birkhäuser, Berlino 1994

- R. Piano: The making of Kansai International Airport Terminal, Kodansha, Tokyo 1994

- Process Architecture, n° 122:

Kansai Internationl Airport Passenger Terminal Building, 1994

- JA n°15 Kansai Internationl Airport Passenger Terminal Building, 1994

- KIAC: Construction of the Kansai International Airport Terminal, KIAC 1995

- P. Buchanan: Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Complete works, Vol.2, Phaidon Press, Londra 1995

-Edizione italiana, Allemandi, Torino 1996

-Edizione tedesca, Hatje Cantz, Stoccarda 1996

- G.B.Gardin : Foto Piano, Peliti Associati, Roma 1996

- R. Piano: Giornale di bordo, Passigli editore, Firenze 1997

-Edizione tedesca, Logbuch, Hatje Cantz Verlag, 1997

-Edizione inglese, The Renzo Piano Logbook, Thames and Hudson, Londra 1997

-Edizione francese, Carnet de travail, Le Seuil, Parigi 1997

-Edizione americana, The Renzo Piano Logbook, Monacelli Press, New York 1997

-Edizione giapponese, Toto, Tokyo 1998

- K. Frampton: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, GA Architect, n° 14, A.D.A. Edita Tokyo, Tokyo.

- P. Buchanan: Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Complete works, Vol.3, Phaidon Press, London, 1997

-Edizione italiana, Allemandi, Torino, 1998

-Edizione tedesca, Hatje Cantz, Stoccarda 1998

- R. Ingersoll: Korean Architects No 158- Ottobre 1997, Architecture & Environment Publications, Seoul, Korea.

-Autori vari: Fondation Beyeler- Une maison de l’art, Birkhäuser, Basilea, Svizzera, 1998

Fondation Beyeler- A home for art, Birkhäuser, Basilea, Svizzera, 1998

Fondation Beyeler- Ein haus für die kunst, Birkhäuser, Basilea, Svizzera, 1998

-Werner Blaser : Renzo Piano Building Workshop- Museum Beyeler

Musée Beyeler, Benteli Verlag, Bern, Switzerland 1998

(unica edizione francese/inglese)

-M.Paternostro: Lezioni di Piano, De Ferrari, Genova, Italia 1999 (italiano)

-O.Cinqualbre, F.Fromonot, T.Paquot, M.Bédarida:

Renzo Piano: un regard construit, (catalogo della mostra) Editions du Centre George Pompidou, Parigi, Francia, 2000 (francese)

-Renzo Piano Archikturen des Lebens (catalogo della mostra) Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germania, 2000 (tedesco)

-Renzo Cassigoli La responsabilità dell’architetto- Conversazione con Renzo Cassigoli, Passigli editore, Firenze, Italia, 2000 (italiano)

-Peter Buchanan Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Complete Works, Volume 4, Phaidon Press, London, 2000

- Edizione italiana, Allemandi, Torino 2000

-Renzo Piano Spirit of Nature –Wood Architecture Award, Helsinki, 2000 (in occasione del premio consegnato a Renzo Piano settembre 2000)

-Alban Bensa Ethnologie & Architecture-Le centre culturel Tjibaou-une réalisation de Renzo Piano, Adam Birò, Parigi, Francia (francese)

-Werner Blaser Kulturzentrum der Kanak/ Cultural centre of the Kanak people, Birkhäuser, 2001 (inglese-tedesco)

-Andrew Metcalf, Martin Van der Wal:

Aurora Place- Renzo Piano Sydney, The Watermark Press, Sydney, Australia 2001 (inglese)

-Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Mark Münzing, Karl Schlögel:

Potsdamer Platz- Project 1989 to 2000, Daimler Chrysler Immobilien (DCI) GmbH Berlin, Germania 2001 (inglese)

-Fulvio Irace, Gabriele Basilico:

La fabbrica della musica- L’Auditorium Paganini nella Città di Parma/ The music factory,

The City of Parma’s Auditorium Paganini, Abitare Segesta, Milano, Italia, 2002

(italiano-inglese)

-Renzo Piano Building Workshop- Musica per Roma

Architettura & Musica – Sette cantieri per la musica: dall’Ircam di Parigi all’Auditorium di Roma, Edizioni Lybra Immagine, Milano 2002 (catalogo della mostra allestita in occasione dell’apertura dell’Auditorium di Roma)

-Aurora Cuito Renzo Piano – LOFT Publications, Barcellona 2002 (spagnolo)

-Emilio Pizzi Renzo Piano, Birkhäuser, Svizzera, 2002 (inglese/tedesco)

-Edizione italiana, Zanichelli, Bologna 2002

-Maria Alessandra Segantini:

Auditorium Parco della Musica, Federico Motta Editore, Milano 2004

-Gigliola Ausiello, Francesco Polverino:

Renzo Piano, Architettura e Tecnica, Clean Edizioni, Napoli 2004

-Renzo Piano & Building Workshop, Tormena Editore, Genova 2004 (catalogo pubblicato in occasione della mostra “Renzo Piano and Building Wokshop, progetti in mostra”,

(Porta Siberia, Porto Antico di Genova)

-Renzo Piano Building Workshop:

Genova: Città & Porto istruzioni per l’uso, Tormena Editore, Genova 2004

-Renzo Piano: On Tour with Renzo Piano, Phaidon Press, Londra 2004 (ingl., fra., ita)

-Renzo Piano Building Workshop:

Nuova Sede per il Sole 24 ore, Editore Il Sole 24 Ore S.p.A., Milano 2004 (ita)

-Fulvio Irace Trasparenze e Prospettiva – Renzo Piano a Lodi; Bolis Edizioni, Bergamo 2004 (ita)

-Philip Jodidio PIANO Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1966-2005; Taschen, Colonia 2005 (ed.ing./fra/ted; ed. ita/spa/port.)

-Maurizio Oddo La Chiesa di Padre Pio a San Giovanni Rotondo; Motta Editore, Milano 2005 (ita)

-R.Piano: Giornale di bordo, Passigli ed., Firenze 2005 – riedizione (ita)

-Matteo Agnoletto Renzo Piano, Motta Architettura, Milano 2006 (ita)

-Renzo Cassigoli La désobéissance de l’architecte, traduzione francese de “La responsabilità dell’architetto, Parigi, Francia, 2007 (fra)

-Renzo Piano Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1990-2006, AV Monografias (Arquitectura Viva) numero 119, maggio-giugno 2006 (ing./spa)

-Fulvio Irace Renzo Piano Le citta visibili, Milano, 2007 (catalogo pubblicato in occasione della mostra “Renzo Piano and Building Wokshop, Le città visibili, Milano, Palazzo della Triennale 22 maggio-16 settembre 2007) (ita)

-Renzo Piano The Menil Collection, Monografia, Fondazione Renzo Piano, 2007

-Renzo Piano Fondation Beyeler, Monografia, Fondazione Renzo Piano, 2008

-Philip Jodidio PIANO Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1966 to today; Taschen, Colonia, 2008 (ed. ing/fra/ted)

-Peter Buchanan Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Complete Works, Volume 5, Phaidon Press, London, 2008

-Piano/Vedova Piano/Vedova Edizioni Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova, Venezia,

2009 (ita)

-Renzo Piano Nouméa Centre Culturel Jean Marie Tjibaou, Renzo Piano Foundation, 2009 (eng-ita)

Prizes and Acknowledgements

1978

Union Internationale des Architects Honorary Fellowship, Mexico City, Mexico

1981

Compasso d'Oro Award, Milan, Italy

AIA Honorary Fellowship, U.S.A.

1984

Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres Award, Paris, France

1985

Legion d'Honneur, Paris, France

R.I.B.A. Honorary Fellowship, London, U.K.

1989

R.I.B.A. Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, London, U.K.

Cavaliere di Gran Croce Award by the Italian Government, Rome, Italy

1990

Honorary Doctorship, Stuttgart University, Stuttgart, Germany

Kyoto Prize, Inamori Foundation, Kyoto, Japan

1991

Neutra Prize, Pomona, California, U.S.A.

1992

Honorary Doctorship, Delft University, The Netherlands

1993

American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow, London, U.K.

1994

American Academy of Arts and Letters Honorary Fellowship, U.S.A.

Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize, U.S.A.

BDA Honorary Fellowship, Stuttgart, Germany

Goodwill Ambassador of Unesco for Architecture

Chevalier, Ordre National du Mérite, Paris, France

Premio Michelangelo, Rome, Italy

“Actuactiones temporales de Urbanismo y Arquitectura”, City of Madrid, Spain

1995

Art Prize of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Germany

Praemium Imperiale, Tokyo, Japan

Erasmus Prize, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

1996

Premio Capo Circeo, Rome, Italy

1997

Telecom Prize for the communication, Naples, Italy

European Award for Steel Structure for the Lingotto heliport, Turin, Italy

1998

The Pritzker Architecture Prize, The White House, Washington, U.S.A.

1999

Architect of the National Academy of San Luca, Rome, Italy

2000

Officier, Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, Paris, France

Leone d’Oro for the career, Venice, Italy

Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award, Helsinki, Finland

Premio Leonardo, Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, Italy

2001

Wexner Prize, Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.

2002

Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree, Pratt Institute, New York, U.S.A.

Médaille D’Or UIA (International Union of Architects), Berlin, Germany

“Michelangelo Antonioni for the Arts”, Rome Auditorium, Italy

2003

Medaglia D’Oro all’Architettura Italiana, “Triennale” of Milan, Italy

“Una vita nella musica– Artur Rubinstein Prize”, Venice, Italy

2004

Grifo d’oro, Comune di Genova, Genoa, Italy

Italy-America Chamber of Commerce Buisiness Cultural Award for 2003, New York, U.S.A.

2005

“Mc Kim Prize”, American Academy in Rome, Villa Aurelia, Rome, Italy

“Prix Acier 2005” for the Zentrum Paul Klee

2006

Prix de la Fondation Cythière, Paris, France

Medaglia D’Oro all’Architettura Italiana for the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Triennale of Milan, Italy

Lucy G. Moses Preservation Project Award for 2006 to the Morgan Library restoration and expansion, The New York Landmarks Conservancy, New York, U.S.A.

2007

Wall Paper Design Award for the Best new public building for the Morgan Library – London, U.K.

Gold Award for Engineering Excellence to the Morgan Library, ACEC (American Council of Engineering Companies of New York), New York, U.S.A.

Society of American Registered Architects/New York Council’s (SARA/NY) Project of the year award for the Morgan Library, Battery Garden, New York.

2008

Gold Medal, (AIA) American Institute of Architect, Washington, U.S.A.

Sonning Prize, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Exhibitions

1967

XIV Triennale di Milano – Palazzo dell’Arte, Milan, Italy

1969

Architectural Association, London, U.K.

1970

Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris, France

1982

“Pezzo per Pezzo – progetti, realizzazioni, immagini TV dell’architetto Renzo Piano” – Cittadella dei Musei, Cagliari, Italy

RIBA, London, U.K.

Palazzo Bianco, Genoa, Italy

IN-ARCH, Rome, Italy

“Pezzo per Pezzo – progetti, realizzazioni, immagini TV dell’architetto Renzo Piano”, Palazzo Bianco, Genova, Italia

“Pezzo per Pezzo – progetti, realizzazioni, immagini TV dell’architetto Renzo Piano”, Fiera SAI, Bologna, Italy

1983

Sottochiesa di San Francesco, Arezzo

“Pezzo per Pezzo – progetti, realizzazioni, immagini TV dell’architetto Renzo Piano” – Museo di Capodimonte, Naples, Italy

Museo di Architettura, Helsinki, Finland

“Pezzo per Pezzo – progetti, realizzazioni, immagini TV dell’architetto Renzo Piano”- Palazzo dei Congressi, Bologna, Italia (23-27 march)

“Pezzo per Pezzo – progetti, realizzazioni, immagini TV dell’architetto Renzo Piano” – Castello Svevo, Bari, Italia

1984

MASP, Sao Paulo, Brasil

Columbia University, New York, U.S.A.

Rice University, Houston, U.S.A.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, U.S.A.

Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia, U.S.A.

1985

Cultural Institute, Tokyo, Japan

Internationale Bauausstellung, Berlin, Germany

M.I.T., Boston, U.S.A.

1986

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

“Renzo Piano Architetto: venti anni di progetti e realizzazioni di architettura”, Palladio's Basilica, Vicenza, Italy

Vancouver Museum, Vancouver, Canada

1987

“Renzo Piano: the process of architecture”- 9TH Gallery, London, U.K., (16 gennaio- 15 febbraio)

Menil Museum, Houston, U.S.A.

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop”, Sorbonne Chapel, Paris, France

1988

Vieille Charité, Marseille, France

Expo' 2000, Moscow, Russia

1989

“RIBA Exhibition”, Royal Institute of British Architects, London, U.K.

1990

“RIBA Exhibition” Tokyo Museum, Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Japan

1992

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Selected Projecs”, Architectural League, New York, U.S.A.

1993

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop”- Menil Collection, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

“Building Workshop projects Exhibition”, Aedes Galerie und Architekturforum, Berlin, Germany

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop”, MOPT Gallery, Madrid, Spain

1994

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop”,Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

GA Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1995

Netherlands Architecture Institute- NAI, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

1996

Light Construction The Moma, New York, U.S.A.

(1994?) "Una città come esperimento: Potsdamer Platz a Berlino" – Loggia della Mercanzia di Piazza Banchi, Genoa, Italy (april)

Italian Design, Triennale, Milan, Italy

VI International Exhibition of Architecture Biennale, Venice, Italy

1997

“Renzo Piano + Building Workshop: Out of the Blue”, Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle, Bonn, Germany

“Renzo Piano + Building Workshop: Out of the Blue”, Naples, Italy (April – June)

“Renzo Piano Workshop”, Beyeler Fondation, Riehen, Basel, Switzerland (October 1997 – March 1998)

Roma Auditorium, La Serra, Rome, Italy

1998

“Renzo Piano + Building Workshop: Out of the Blue”, Gallery MA, Tokyo, Japan (April – June)

2000

“Renzo Piano: un regard construit”, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (January- March)

“Renzo Piano: Architekturen des Lebens”, Neue National Galerie, Berlin, Germany (June- September)

“Città: less Aesthetics, more ethics”, installation for the 7th Biennale of Architecture 2000 in Venice, Italy

2002

“Architettura e Musica, sette cantieri per la musica : dall’Ircam di Parigi all’Auditorium di Roma”, Auditorium- Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy (April- December)

2003

“Renzo Piano: The Architect’s Studio”, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek (Copenhagen), Denmark

2004

“Renzo Piano & The Building Workshop”, Porta Siberia, Porto Antico area, Genoa, Italy (May -October)

2005

“On tour with Renzo Piano and Building Workshop: Selected Projects”, Los Angeles County Museum of Arts, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (March- October)

“Celebrate Architecture! Renzo Piano and Building Workshop”, High Museum of Arts, Anne Cox Chambers Wing – Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A. (November 2005 – March 2006 )

2006

“On tour with Renzo Piano and Building Workshop: Selected Projects”, The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas, U.S.A. (May- August)

2007

“Zentrum Paul Klee” – La Galerie d’Architecture, Paris, France

“Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Le città visibili”, Triennale di Milano (May 22 – September 15)