Renzo Piano is one of the funniest architects we've ever heard speak. For proof, read through some of the Pritzker Prize winner's best zingers below, and click through the photos above to watch the guy on the left try not to completely lose it...
Renzo Piano on Prince Charles & Performance Anxiety
CERSAIE in Bologna, Italy
We heard Renzo's biting humor at a press conference last week at the Cersaie exhibition in Bologna, Italy. (Apologies for the blurry photos. We were stationed at the back of the room, and it was a mad house.)
When reporters asked Renzo how he felt about Prince Charles' intent to curtail Richard Rogers’ modern Chelsea Barracks project, as well as several other modern developments in London, Renzo responded with wit and venom: This man puts his nose everywhere. He likes watercolors, Renzo shrugged. That's OK, but he has a negative analysis of modern architecture... It makes no sense to do things the way people did in the past. Waving his hands in derision, the architect continued, The UK is a democracy. I'm sure he will lose the battle. People in the UK have their own opinions. He cannot replace all of the democratic system.
On the question of sustainability, the architect conceded, The issue of building sustainably is burdensome... The problem is not just cutting cost, but developing a language. This language has always resulted from need. When you provide an honest and loyal answer to the needs of the people and also their desires, then you're a good architect. Otherwise, you're just a charlatan... It's not just that we need to consume less, but that we need a way to get out of this tragedy of performance anxiety—the idea of making things bigger and bigger! (Apparently the joke is funnier in Italian, since the Italians in the room all burst into laughter at once.)
When asked about his advice for young architects in the field, Renzo waxed poetic on the joy of making architecture. It's a beautiful job; it's an adventurous job; it's extraordinary... you breathe with the pace of the earth. He did, however, make a point that young architects need to pay their dues and learn their craft before embarking on major projects, comparing untrained architects to Karaoke singers: Those who sing Karaoke believe they're great singers, he remarked, but they're just poor, sad people...It [architecture] takes being sly. You have to take and give back from your colleagues and from the trade.
He followed these comments with a hint of self-deprecation: You shouldn't really listen to anyone... There are so many people giving suggestions. You have to listen to yourself and have a bit of rebellion. Leaning forward, he threw an aside to the crowd: I was a little bit of a rebel.
MORE RENZO PIANO ON APARTMENT THERAPY
• Renzo Piano Addition to the Art Institute of Chicago
• Last Day: Free Admission to The Art Institute's New Modern Wing
• 10 Design Destinations In Miracle Mile
Photos: Sarah Coffey
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Funnier in Italian, indeed. Translations are a subtle art, and I'm guessing Ansia di prestazione had a sexual connotation. Did he make a gesture when he said bigger and bigger? And the architect's name is, after all, Piano (flat, flush, smooth)...
Loving this article. And now I'm interested to learn more about Renzo Piano. Thanks!
view Splomo's profile
Bravo, Piano!
view Marco's profile
Renzo Piano designed the New York Times Building on 8th Avenue in NYC, for anyone interested in learning more about him. http://www.nyc-architecture.com/MID/MID125C.htm
view casafroggy's profile
Arrogance is an occupational disease in the design professions. RP provides a good example: success has made him overly confident.
The Prince of Wales is not a great thinker, but his objection to modernism is not foolish or trivial.
I live in NYC. I avoid neighborhoods that are dominated by modern buildings. I find charm and warmth only in the older buildings. I think that most people share my taste.
view ebanfield's profile
I completely agree, Ebanfield. One of responsibilities of an architect of any style is addressing the needs and desires of not only his client but the need and desires of the surrounding community. There are ways of incorporating a modernist aesthetic to the history of a site that work with the varying styles of architecture instead of what lesser designer tend to and simply ignore it.
Carlos Scarpa's Castelvecchio is a good example of this. It is a modern restoration of an ancient site.
view Comicgeek's profile
casafroggy, the NYTimes is my absolute favorite building to be in. I also love how it looks from the outside, something I can't say for many midtown 'scrapers.
Plus, they put great art installations in there!
view LydiaKutko's profile
we can't live in the past. embrace the present. plan for the future!
piano rocks.
view davidsl's profile
LydiaKutko, I love it too. My company has an office there and I get to work there on occasion, which is like a treat to me. Plus the views from the top floors are breathtaking.
view casafroggy's profile
Renzo Piano also designed the new California Acadamy of Sciences in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.
http://www.calacademy.org
view aaakid's profile
I agree with ebanfield, and I'd like to add that when it actually comes to the opinion of most people in the UK, they'd probably err on the traditional side of things. With regular maintenance and care, traditional buildings last for centuries. 40 years on many UK buildings from the 1960s are decaying, especially those built in concrete, which is unsuited to a largely wet climate like ours.
Not only that but Prince Charles' housing project in Poundbury, Dorset is incredibly popular - all modern houses build in a traditional style.
Regarding the Chelsea Barracks and democracy, it was not a democratic vote that chose the modern design, anymore than it was one that stopped it.
view KatyDidWhat's profile