Best Places To See The Work Of Renzo Piano

The Shard, the Parco Della Musica, the Maison Hermès…the list of buildings designed and executed by Renzo Piano is a long one. As one of the most prolific architects of our times, Piano is known for his uniquely light and well-crafted designs which straddle the line between conventional and daring, the unusual and the acceptable.

The Shard, London

Renzo Piano is perhaps best known for The Shard, a skyscraper in London and the tallest building in the European Union. Inspired by the masts of sailing ships, Piano sketched a design of a tall, spire-like building rising from the river Thames on the back of a menu card over lunch. The English Heritage criticized the building, saying that it would be “a shard of glass through the heart of London.” This description then went on to give the building its name.
32 London Bridge St, London, UK

Maison Hermès, Tokyo

5-4-19 Ginza, Chuo- ku, Tokyo, Japan

Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center, New Caledonia

Built in Nouméa, the capital of New Caledonia, the most photogenic building of Piano’s pays tribute to the local Kanak culture and is named after its foremost independence leader. The building was specifically designed to reflect and incorporate Kanak culture as best as it could, and it involved the work of an anthropologist specializing in Kanak culture, Alban Bensa. There are several huts that exemplify the Kanak lifestyle.

Noumea, New Caledonia

Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo

Set out right where Oslo meets the fjord, this stunning structure incorporates museum, beach, garden, and offices all in one. The roof is supported by beams which are in turn supported by cabled rigging, which reinforces and emphasizes the maritime heritage of the museum. The various timber-clad structures are separated by a canal that weaves through the building and out into the fjord, thus bringing an element of the water into the building.

Strandpromenaden 2, Oslo, Norway

California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco

This natural history museum looks very unlike most natural history buildings: its roof is a living, growing green roof “that follows the form of its components”. There are over 1,700,000 plants growing on this roof, each in coconut-fibre containers, making the roof garden structure completely biodegradable and environmentally-friendly. The moisture of the soil on the roof cools the interiors naturally, thus eliminating the need for air-conditioning.

55 Music Concourse Dr, San Francisco, CA

Parco Della Musica, Rome

Concert halls, practice rooms, recording studios, classrooms: all of these are part of the massive auditorium of Parco Della Musica, an auditorium that pays tribute to the Roman heritage of the city. The large open-air amphitheatre is the most obvious tribute to the Roman heritage, but a less obvious feature is the fact that all of the structure’s vertical surfaces have been built by Roman brick. Additionally, the rooms have been specifically designed to improve the acoustics for the performance of music.

Viale Pietro De Coubertin, 30, Rome, Italy

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

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