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.

Publications and Books

R. Piano, M. Arduino, M. Fazio: Antico è bello, il recupero della città , Editori Laterza, Bari, Italy, 1980
G. Donin: Renzo Piano. Pezzo per pezzo, Casa del libro, Bari, Italy, 1982
M. Dini: Renzo Piano. Progetti e architetture 1964-1983, Electa, Milan, Italy, 1983
French edition, Electa Moniteur, Paris, France, 1983
English edition, Architectural Press, London, UK, 1983
R. Piano: Chantier ouvert au public, Arthaud, Paris, France, 1985
Italian edition: Dialoghi di cantiere, Laterza, Bari, Italy, 1986
R. Piano: Progetti e Architetture 1984-1986, Electa, Milan, Italy, 1986
R. Piano: Renzo Piano, Editions du Centre Pompidou, Paris, France, 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, Milan, Ily, 1989
R. Piano: Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1964-1988, A+U extra edition, Tokyo, Japan, 1989
R. Piano: Renzo Piano buildings and projects 1971-1989, Rizzoli International, New York, U.S.A., 1989
Spanish edition, Gustavo Gili, Madrid, Spain, 1990
R. Piano: Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1964-1991, In search of a balance, Process architecture, Tokyo, Japan, n.100, 1992
C. Garbato, M. Mastropietro: Exhibit & Design Lybra Edizioni, Milan, Italy, 1992
P. Buchanan: Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Complete works ,Vol.1 Phaidon Press, London, UK, 1993
Italian edition, Allemandi, Turin, Italy, 1994
French edition, Flammarion, Paris, France, 1994
German edition, Hatje Cantz, Stuttgart, Germany, 1994
V.M. Lampugnani: Renzo Piano. Progetti e Architetture 1987-1994, Electa, Milan, Italy, 1994
German edition, D. Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart, Germany, 1994
English edition, Birkhäuser, Berlino 1994
R. Piano: The making of Kansai International Airport Terminal, Kodansha, Tokyo, Japan, 1994
Process Architecture,
n° 122: Kansai International Airport Passenger Terminal Building, 1994
JA n°15: Kansai International 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, London, United Kingdom, 1995
Italian edition, Allemandi, Turin, Italy, 1996
German edition, Hatje Cantz, Stuttgart, Germany, 1996
G.B. Gardin: Foto Piano, Peliti Associati, Rome, Italy, 1996
R.Piano: Giornale di bordo, Passigli ed., Florence, Italy, 1997
German edition, Logbuch, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Stuttgart, Germany, 1997
English edition, The Renzo Piano Logbook, Thames and Hudson, London, United Kingdom, 1997
French edition, Carnet de travail, Le Seuil, Paris, France, 1997
American edition, The Renzo Piano Logbook, Monacelli Press, New York, U.S.A., 1997
Japanese edition, Toto, Tokyo, Japan, 1998
Robert Bordaz: Entretiens avec Renzo Piano, Cercle d'art, Paris, France, 1997
K. Frampton: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, GA Architect, n° 14, A.D.A. Edita Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan 1997
P. Buchanan: Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Complete works vol.3, Phaidon Press, London, United Kingdom, 1997
Italian edition, Allemandi, Turin, Italy, 1998
German edition, Hatje Cantz, Stuttgart, Germany 1998
R. Ingersoll: Korean Architects No 158 - Ottobre 1997, Architecture & Environment Publications, Seoul, Korea.
R. Piano: Fondation Beyeler - Une maison de l’art, Birkhäuser, Basel, Switzerland, 1998
Fondation Beyeler - A home for art, Birkhäuser, Basel, Switzerland, 1998
Fondation Beyeler - Ein Haus für die Kunst, Birkhäuser, Basel, Switzerland, 1998
W. Blaser: Renzo Piano Building Workshop - Museum Beyeler, Musée Beyeler, Benteli Verlag, Bern, Switzerland, 1998 (French/English)
M. Paternostro: Lezioni di Piano, De Ferrari, Genoa, Italy, 1999 (Italian)
O.Cinqualbre, F. Fromonot, T. Paquot, M. Bédarida: Renzo Piano, un regard construit, (the exibition catalogue) Editions du Centre George Pompidou, Paris, France, 2000 (French)
R. Piano: Archikturen des Lebens (the exhibition catalogue) Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern-Ruit, Germany, 2000 (German)
R. Cassigoli: La responsabilità dell’architetto-Conversazione con Renzo Cassigoli, Passigli editori, Florence, Italy, 2000 (Italian)
P. Buchanan: Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Complete Works, Volume 4, Phaidon Press, London, 2000
Italian edition, Allemandi, Turin, Italy, 2000
R. Piano: Spirit of Nature - Wood Architecture Award 2000, Helsinki, Finland, 2000 (on the occasion of the prize given to Renzo Piano in September 2000) (English)
A. Bensa: Ethnologie & Architecture-Le centre culturel Tjibaou-une réalisation de Renzo Piano, Adam Birò, Paris, France, 2000 (French)
W. Blaser: Kulturzentrum der Kanak/ Cultural centre of the Kanak people, Birkhäuser, Basel, Switzerland, 2001 (German-English)
A. Metcalf, M. Van der Wal: Aurora Place-Renzo Piano Sydney, The Watermark Press, Sydney, Australia, 2001 (English)
G. Di Lorenzo, M. Münzing, K. Schlögel: Potsdamer Platz Project 1989 to 2000, Daimler Chrysler Immobilien (DCI) GmbH Berlin, Germany, 2001 (English)
F. Irace, G. Basilico: La fabbrica della musica - L’Auditorium Paganini nella Città di Parma/ The music factory, The City of Parma’s Auditorium Paganini, Abitare Segesta, Milan, Italy, 2002 (Italian-English)
Renzo Piano Building Workshop - Musica per Roma: Architecture & Music – Seven sites for music: from the Ircam in Paris to the Auditorium in Roma, Lybra Immagine Publications, Milan, Italy, 2002 (the exhibition catalogue in occasion of the opening of the Auditorium in Rome)
A. Cuito: Renzo Piano – LOFT Publications, Barcelona, Spain, 2002. (Spanish)
E. Pizzi: Renzo Piano, Birkhäuser, Switzwerland, 2002 (English/German)
Italian edition, Zanichelli, Bologna, Italy, 2002
M. A. Segantini: Auditorium Parco della Musica, Federico Motta Editore, Milan, Italy, 2004
Gigliola Ausiello, Francesco Polverino: Renzo Piano, Architettura e Tecnica, Clean Edizioni, Neaples, Italy, 2004
Renzo Piano & Building Workshop, Tormena Editore, Genoa, Italy 2004 (catalogue for the exhibition “Renzo Piano and Building Wokshop, progetti in mostra”, Porta Siberia, Genoa Harbour, Italy)
Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Genova: Città & Porto istruzioni per l’uso, Tormena Editore, Genoa, Italy 2004
Renzo Piano On Tour with Renzo Piano, Phaidon Press, London, United Kingdom 2004
Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Nuova Sede per il Sole 24 ore, Editore Il Sole 24 Ore S.p.A., Milan, Italy, 2004
Fulvio Irace Trasparenze e Prospettiva – Renzo Piano a Lodi; Bolis Edizioni, Bergamo 2004 (ita)
Philip Jodidio PIANO - Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1966-2005; Taschen, Köln 2005 (ed.eng./fre/ger; ed. ita/spa/port.)
Maurizio Oddo La Chiesa di Padre Pio a San Giovanni Rotondo; Motta Editore, Milan 2005 (ita)
Renzo Piano, Giornale di bordo, Passigli ed., Florence, Italy, 2005 – Reedition (ita)
Matteo Agnoletto Renzo Piano, Motta Architettura, Milano 2006 (ita)
Renzo Cassigoli La désobéissance de l’architecte, french translation of “La responsabilità dell’architetto”, Paris, France, 2007 (fre)
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1990-2006, AV Monografias (Arquitectura Viva) n° 119, may-june 2006 (eng./spa)
Fulvio Irace, Renzo Piano Le citta visibili, Milano, 2007 (catalogue for the exhibition “Renzo Piano and Building Wokshop, Le città visibili”, Milan Triennale, 22 may - 16 september 2007) (ita)
Renzo Piano The Menil Collection, Monograph, Renzo Piano Foundation, 2007
Renzo Piano Fondation Beyeler, Monograph, Renzo Piano Foundation, 2008
Philip Jodidio PIANO Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1966 to today; Taschen, Köln 2008 (ed. eng/fre/ger)
Peter Buchanan Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Complete Works, Volume 5, Phaidon Press, London, 2008
Piano-Vedova Fondazione Emilio e Annabianca Vedova Editions, Venise, 2009 (ita)
Renzo Piano Nouméa Centre Culturel Jean Marie Tjibaou, Renzo Piano Foundation, 2009 (eng-ita; eng-fre)

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)