Home / Authors / Renzo Piano Biography

Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano Biography

Architect

Renzo Piano, an Italian architect born on September 14, 1937, is known for his minimalist and modern design style, as well as his commitment to environmental sustainability. He is one of the most influential architects of our time, with his works spread across the globe, including the iconic Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Freedom Tower in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center in New York, and the Shard in London.

Renzo Piano, an Italian architect born on September 14, 1937, is known for his minimalist and modern design style, as well as his commitment to environmental sustainability. He is one of the most influential architects of our time, with his works spread across the globe, including the iconic Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Freedom Tower in the rebuilding of the World Trade Center in New York, and the Shard in London.

Related Quotes

“The pursuit of beauty. The word is hard to articulate. As soon as you open your moth, it flies off, like a bird of paradise. Beauty can not be caught, but we are obliged to reach for it. Beauty is not neutral; pursuing it is a political act. Building is a grand act, a gesture toward peace, the opposite of destruction.”

Ideas Imagination Beauty Creativity Design Building Architecture Craftsmanship

Book:Atlantis: A Journey in Search of Beauty

Source: Atlantis: A Journey in Search of Beauty

“The pursuit of beauty. The word is hard to articulate. As soon as you open your mouth, it flies off, like a bird of paradise. Beauty can not be caught, but we are obliged to reach for it. Beauty is not neutral; pursuing it is a political act. Building is a grand act, a gesture toward peace, the opposite of destruction.”

Ideas Imagination Beauty Creativity Design Building Perfection Architecture Atlantis

Book:Atlantis: A Journey in Search of Beauty

Source: Atlantis: A Journey in Search of Beauty

“A builder is like a little god - somebody who does things, doesnt just draw things.”

Littles Doe Draws Builder

Author:Renzo Piano

“A piazza is not a plaza. The plaza is the theme park of the piazza; the plaza is the commercial version. A piazza is an empty space with no function. This is what Europeans understand.”

Space Empty Function Versions Parks Theme Empty Space Theme Parks

Author:Renzo Piano

“There is something about giving everything to your profession. In Italian, an obsession is not necessarily negative. Its the art of putting all your energy into one thing; its the art of transforming even what you eat for lunch into architecture.”

Giving Art Energy One Thing Negative Profession Architecture Obsession Italian Lunch Transforming Giving Everything

Author:Renzo Piano

“I dont remember a single thing in my childhood that was not related in some way to building.”

Way Remember Childhood Building Related

Author:Renzo Piano

“Every year I spend one month just sailing, but I still work when Im on the boat. You never separate work from leisure. A boat is like a magic world, like a little island.”

World Years Littles Stills Magic Months Boat Islands Leisure Sailing

Author:Renzo Piano

“My inspiration came from the land, ... and, of course, from Paul Klee . . . and the poetics of his paintings.”

Inspiration Courses Land Painting

Author:Renzo Piano

“When you walk 25-30 feet above ground, it is a miracle, because you are still in the city ... but you are flying above the city. You are in the middle of trees, and that is a moment of beauty.”

Stills Moments Walks Cities Tree Feet Middle Miracle Flying

Author:Renzo Piano

“London is one of the most civilised places in the world for the procedure of making architecture and urban design.”

World Design London Architecture Urban Procedures Places In The World Civilised Urban Design

Author:Renzo Piano

“One of the great beauties of architecture is that each time, it is like life starting all over again.”

Starting Architecture Ass Architect Bad Ass Badass Architecture And Design Architecture Design Starting All Over Again Starting All Over

Author:Renzo Piano

“Architects spend an entire life with this unreasonable idea that you can fight against gravity.”

Ideas Fighting Architecture Ass Architect Gravity Bad Ass Badass Unreasonable Architecture And Design Architecture Design

Author:Renzo Piano

“A museum is a place where one should lose one's head.”

Should Loses Museums Architect

Author:Renzo Piano

“Architecture is art, but art vastly contaminated by many other things. Contaminated in the best sense of the word – fed, fertilised by many things.”

Art Architecture Feds

Author:Renzo Piano

“As an architect you are a builder. You are of course more than a builder. You need to be a militant, you have to be a poet, you have to be a visionary, you have to be an artist. But certainly you have to be a builder. Everything starts from there.”

Needs Artist Courses Poet Architect Visionaries Builder Militant

Author:Renzo Piano

“Architecture is art. I don't think you should say that too much, but it is art. I mean, architecture is many, many things. Architecture is science, is technology, is geography, is typography, is anthropology, is sociology, is art, is history. You know all this comes together. Architecture is a kind of bouillabaisse, an incredible bouillabaisse. And, by the way, architecture is also a very polluted art in the sense that it's polluted by life, and by the complexity of things.”

Thinking Knows Way Should Kind Mean Art Together Technology Too Much Art Is Incredibles Architecture Complexity Sociology Geography Anthropology Typography

Author:Renzo Piano

“Architects have to dream, we have to search for our Atlantises, to be explorers, adventurers, and yet to build responsibly and well.”

Wells Dream Architect Explorers Adventurer

Author:Renzo Piano

“Knowing how to do things not just with the head, but with the hands as well: this might seem a programmatic and ideological goal. It is not. It is a way of safeguarding creative freedom.”

Way Wells Hands Seems Might Goal Creative Knowing Ideological Creative Freedom Safeguarding

Author:Renzo Piano

“Architecture is an imposed art in some ways, imposed upon the public, so people must be sure about what you're doing. You have to be sure about what you're doing.”

People Way Art Design Architecture Doing You

Author:Renzo Piano

“You can put down a bad book; you can avoid listening to bad music; but you cannot miss the ugly tower block opposite your house.”

Book House Missing Listening Opposites Ugly Architecture Block Towers Bad Music

Book:The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1998: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Prize : Presented to Renzo Piano

Source: The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1998: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Prize : Presented to Renzo Piano

“Light has not just intensity, but also a vibration, which is capable of roughening a smooth material, of giving a three-dimensional quality to a flat surface.”

Giving Light Three Quality Materials Capable Surface Flats Intensity Smooth Vibrations

Book:Logbook

Source: Logbook

“When a man is not satisfied with a house where he lives, he becomes an architect”

Men House Satisfied Architect

Author:Renzo Piano

“In a way I spend my entire life stealing from everything - from the past, from cities I love, from where I grew up - grabbing things, taking not only from architecture but from Italy, art, writing, poetry, music.”

Way Writing Art Past Cities Grew Grew Up Architecture Stealing Writing Poetry Grabbing

Author:Renzo Piano

“Cities are beautiful because they are created slowly; they are made by time. A city is born from a tangle of monuments and infrastructures , culture and market, national history and everyday stories. It takes 500 years to create a city, 50 to create a neighborhood.”

Years Made Stories Beautiful Culture Born Cities Everyday Neighborhood Infrastructure Monument

Author:Renzo Piano

“If you have total freedom, then you are in trouble. It's much better when you have some obligation, some discipline, some rules. When you have no rules, then you start to build your own rules.”

Ifs Trouble Discipline Obligation Piano

Author:Renzo Piano

“You have to accept as an architect to be exposed to criticism. Architecture should not rely on full harmony”

Should Accepting Criticism Harmony Architecture Rely Exposed Architect

Author:Renzo Piano

About the Author

Born: September 14, 1937
Known for: Architect
Quotes: 26

Related Topics

Architecture Architect Art Way Design Building Cities Ideas Should Architecture And Design

Popular Topics

People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

Atlantis: A Journey in Search of BeautyRelated source material

LogbookRelated source material

The Pritzker Architecture Prize, 1998: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Prize : Presented to Renzo PianoRelated source material

Similar Authors

Alexander Jackson DavisBrowse related quotes
Jean NouvelBrowse related quotes
Tadao AndoBrowse related quotes
David ChipperfieldBrowse related quotes
Toyo ItoBrowse related quotes
John Mercer JohnsonBrowse related quotes
Frank Lloyd WrightBrowse related quotes
Zaha HadidBrowse related quotes
Frank GehryBrowse related quotes
Louis KahnBrowse related quotes