This collection of drawings, models and full-scale maquettes of the key buildings designed by the award-winning Italian architect Renzo Piano, celebrates over 50 years of his work.
Piano has worked on buildings, all over the world but the The Shard in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris are probably the best known. He also collaborated on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. Piano’s buildings are known for their high-tech style and use of light and windows to interact with the surrounding environment, and interact with the people within it. One of the partners in Piano’s workshop described their philosophy as ‘everything we do … is for people’.
The Renzo Piano workshop also prides itself on its precision and attention to detail even on a very small scale within a building. Piano himself described the technique as making buildings ‘piece by piece’, with each individual component ‘well crafted’, ‘designed, tested, made and remade’ and equally important for the finished product.
This exhibition is the first display of Piano’s work in London for 30 years, and the RA collaborated with the architect himself to help design this collection of his greatest achievements. Although you’ll recognise many of Piano’s buildings, the exhibition shows his lesser known stuff The collection shows the evolution of his work starting from the 1970s, his rise to the status of a ‘starchitect’, ending with his status today.
The Royal Academy
Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD
Opening times
Monday – Sunday: 10:00 - 18:00