Architecture – L'ItaloEuropeo – Independent Magazine in London

London (Giulia Faloia) – The Royal Academy presented “The art of making buildings”, an exhibition of Renzo Piano’s buildings.

On 12th September the most famous Italian architect was in London for the launch of the exhibition that will officially start the 15th September. It was organised by the Royal Academy of Arts in collaboration with Renzo Piano Building Workshop and the Fondazione Renzo Piano.

The exhibition was born with the idea of following step by step Mr Piano’s career, from the influence of his Genoese heritage and his rise to the meeting with his friend and collaborator Richard Rogers, to current projects still in the making.

The protagonists of the exhibition are 16 buildings, by which people can easily understand how the Renzo Piano Building Workshop designs buildings “piece by piece”, making deft use of form, material and engineering to achieve a precise and poetic elegance.

Mr Piano himself took part at the presentation on the 12th September by talking about the importance of architecture nowadays and its influence on our daily lives. He focused mainly on what he calls “fil rouge”, the idea that architecture has its continuity in time and space.

https://youtu.be/FWdQ047i1eI

He also added that the same art must be used for people and that it represents a change in society. Architecture, as he claimed, gives you the illusion that it changes the world, when actually everything and the world itself is under a constant transformation.

Piano also said that he would like that people look at buildings not just as they are, but finding behind their structure something more: “maybe poetry”, in order to catch more than the simple construction.

The architect, as an Italian and as a Genoese, couldn’t avoid to talk about the tragedy happened in Genoa when the bridge Morandi collapsed.

He said that a bridge falling goes beyond the collapse itself, because it is a symbol of connection that falls. First, a bridge should never fall and walls should be shot down, while nowadays the exact opposite is happening, metaphorically and in the real world.

At the following link you can listen to the whole interview had with the curator and creator of the exhibition, Kate Goodwin.

London (Giulia Faloia) – Renzo Piano is one of the greatest Italian talents who has became famous also abroad, in the most famous cities of the world such as Paris, Oslo, New York, Tokyo and London.

That’s why London will host the architect on the 15th October in the Royal Academy, Piccadilly. He will talk about his work, philosophy and life.

Renzo Piano started to work in Italy and he achieved the first, great assignments there, such as the Triennale in Milan, Olivetti in Turin and the Italian stand for the Expo in Osaka.

He got the first work abroad in England, when he was 31. In fact he was one of the author of the Grafton Centre in Cambridge.

Following the chronological order, it’s impossible not to talk about his most famous building in London: The Shard, the highest skyscraper in European Union.

Piano’s building is in Southwark – a London’s neighborhood looking out onto the Thame – and it is 310 meter tall. It has the shape of an irregular pyramid and it is completely covered by glass.

The entire work costed 435 millions of pounds, more than 560 millions of euros. Inside the building you can find 72 habitable floors and a total of 87.

In addition the skyscraper has became one of the most recognizable referring points of London. In fact you can easily see it from every corner of the City and perfectly incorporated in it, putting together the ancient and the modern soul of London.

The beauty of Renzo Piano’s works is also in their diversity. Compared to The Shard, Saint Giles Court – or Central St. Giles – is a completely different building and its colors are the protagonists.

This is a group of buildings between Covent Garden and Bloomsbury, with different highness, position, light effect and – especially – colors. The entire project involves 11 shops and restaurants and 109 flats. Furthermore inside the compound there is a 2000 square foot square.

In 2014 The News Building was opened and it replaced the old name of London Bridge Place. It seems the younger brother of The Shard, since they are so closed and it was built to counteract the older building. In fact The News Building is also called “The Baby Shard”.

The official name is due to News UK, such an important British editor that reports to News Corporation by Rupert Murdoch. In fact the major press affiliations controlled by the society are in the buildings, such as Wall Street Journal, Times, Sunday Times, The Sun and the offices of the editor HarperCollins.

In 2013 they started a project that hasn’t been finished yet: The Fielden House. La “house” should be in St. Thomas Street, incorporated with the place and linked to The Shard and the News Building.

The project includes a 26 floor tower, higher than the News Building, but less wide. It should have 150 flats that will be mainly inhabited.

Every Architecture’s lover in London can’t absolutely miss the opportunity to meet Renzo Piano next October.

Tag: Architecture

“The art of making buildings”, Renzo Piano’s poetry

Renzo Piano, an Italian genius who loves London