192 Renzo Piano, The poetry of lightness

Renzo Piano
The poetry of lightness

"The array of buildings by Renzo Piano is staggering in scope and comprehensive in the diversity of
scale, material, and form. He is truly an architect whose sensibilities represent the widest range of this
and earlier centuries." Such was the description of Renzo Piano given by the Pritzker Prize jury citation
as they bestowed the prestigious award on him in 1998. Whereas some architects have a signature
style, what sets Piano apart is that he seeks simply to apply a coherent set of ideas to new projects in
extraordinarily different ways. "One of the great beauties of architecture is that each time, it is like life
starting all over again," Piano says. "Like a movie director doing a love story, a Western, or a murder
mystery, a new world confronts an architect with each project." This explains why it takes more than a
superficial glance to recognize Piano`s fingerprints on such varied projects as the Pompidou Center in
Paris (1971-77), the Kansai airport in Osaka, Japan (1990-94), and the Tjibaou Cultural Center in
Nouméa, New Caledonia (1993-1998). This stunning monograph, illustrated by photographs, sketches,
and plans, covers Piano`s career to date. Also included are sneak peeks at Piano`s current projects,
including the New York Times Tower, a 52-story skyscraper to be built in Times Square, and the
66-story London Bridge Tower, which is set to be Europe`s tallest building.

About the author:
Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard, and edited Connaissance des Arts for
over 20 years. His books include TASCHEN's Architecture Now! series, and monographs on Tadao
Ando, Norman Foster, Richard Meier, Jean Nouvel, and Zaha Hadid. He is internationally renowned as
one of the most popular writers on the subject of architecture.