Renzo Piano
The architect from Italy is Renzo Piano, OMRI, OMCA. His major structures include the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2015), The Shard in London (2012), the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (1977; with Richard Rogers), and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens (2016). In 1998, he was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Piano extended his horizons and developed his technical talents while working in two huge multinational enterprises, for the Polish engineer Zygmunt Stanisaw Makowski in London and the modernist architect Louis Kahn in Philadelphia. Piano taught at the Polytechnic University from 1965 to 1968. In 1968, he finished his first structure, the IPE plant in Genoa, which had a steel and reinforced polyester roof. That same year, he also developed a continuous membrane for covering a pavilion during the Milan Triennale. He was given his first international commission in 1970 for the Italian Industry Pavilion at Expo 70 in Osaka, Japan. In order to produce the structure, he worked alongside his brother Ermanno and the family business. It appeared to be both artistic and industrial at the same time because it was made of steel and reinforced polyester, making it lightweight and unique.
Renzo Piano, an Italian architect, isn't known for having a distinct style like the other architects on this list are. Instead, his buildings have been eclectic, from the Neo-Brutalism of his design for the Whitney Museum's residence in the Meatpacking District to the elegant, light-filled Menil Collection in Houston, Texas, which resembles an encroached version of a mid-century home by West Coast modernist Richard Neutra. His work does, however, frequently have an industrial or technological aesthetic. His tallest structure to date is The Shard in London, a steeply tapering 95-story glass and steel skyscraper that has become to be his most well-known design.
Date of birth: 14 September 1937
Accomplishments: Kansai International Airport, Centre Georges Pompidou, Parco della Musica, Shard London Bridge, The New York Times Building, Whitney Museum of American Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Awards: Pritzker Architecture Prize, RIBA Gold Medal, Sonning Prize, AIA Gold Medal, Kyoto Prize, Senator for life in Italy
