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Renzo Piano, Hon. FAIA, Named 2008 AIA Gold Medal Recipient
Piano praised for his sculptural, technically accomplished, and sustainable forms
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For Immediate Release |
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Washington, D.C., December 13,
2007 — The AIA Board of Directors voted today to award the 2008 AIA
Gold Medal to Renzo Piano, Hon. FAIA, internationally lauded
architect of a wide array of singularly beautiful grand scale
projects in Europe and the United States.
The AIA Gold Medal, voted on annually, is the highest honor the AIA
confers on an individual. The Gold Medal honors an individual whose
significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory
and practice of architecture. The award will be presented at the
American Architectural Foundation's Accent on Architecture Gala,
February 22, 2008, at the National Building Museum in Washington,
D.C.
“Sculptural, beautiful, technically accomplished,
sustainable”
In nominating Piano for the award, Thomas S. Howorth, FAIA, chair
of the AIA Committee on Design Gold Medal Committee, explained,
“Renzo Piano’s distinguished architecture has captured
admirers around the world for more than 30 years. His work
demonstrates the complete range of architectural concerns. It is
sculptural, beautiful, technically accomplished and sustainable. He
integrates the diverse disciplines that combine in contemporary
building into cohesive, humane environments.”
Piano, born in Genoa in 1937, graduated in 1964 from the Milan
Polytechnic School of Architecture. Between 1965 and 1970, in
addition to beginning his working career, he traveled and studied
extensively in Britain and the U.S. During this time, he befriended
French engineer/designer Jean Prouvé; their friendship
proved to have a deep influence on his professional life. In 1971,
Piano joined forces with Sir Richard Rogers to form the Piano and
Rogers Agency to collaborate on the Centre Pompidou project in
Paris, an architectural shot heard round the world that catapulted
the two designers to international acclaim that both have kept
earning to this day. Piano now heads the Renzo Piano Workshop, in
which 100 people work in offices in Paris and Genoa.
International acclaim
In 1988, Piano received the Pritzker Prize. Among his best-loved
and well-known projects around the world are:
• The Menil Collection, Houston, Texas (1987)
• The Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas (2003)
• High Museum Expansion, Atlanta, Georgia (2005)
• Renovation and expansion of the Morgan Library, New York,
New York (2006)
• The Paul Klee Library, Bern, Switzerland (2005)
• San Pio Church, Foggia, Italy (2004)
• Potzdamer Platz, Berlin, Germany (2000)
• Cultural Center Jean-Marie Tijbaou, Noumea, New Caledonia,
France (1998)
• NEMO, National Center for Science and Technology, Amsterdam
(1997)
• Usibuka Bridge, Kumamoto, Japan (1996)
• Kansai International Airport Terminal, Osaka, Japan
(1994)
• Columbus International Exposition, Aquarium and Congress
Hall, Genoa, Italy (1992)
• Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Genoa, Italy (1991)
• Olivetti Office Building, Naples, Italy (1984)
Piano’s cleanly expressed and seamlessly integrated
architecture continues to capture the appreciation and fascination
of the American audience, who admire his treasures on U.S.
soil—from the beloved Menil Collection in Houston, the High
Museum expansion in Atlanta, and Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas
to the renovation of the jewel-box Morgan Library in New York City.
Piano was the subject of a New York Times magazine cover story
aptly headlined, “Renzo the Magnificent: A series of important
U.S. commissions is about to bring the poetic, understated
architecture of Renzo Piano to a wider American audience.” In
a special issue of Time magazine, Renzo Piano was presented as one
of the world’s 100 most influential people, in an essay penned
by Sir Richard Rogers.
Says client Raymond D. Nasher Hon. AIA, founder and chair of the
Nasher Sculpture Center, about Piano’s work: “I can
underscore the fact that it is both impressively broad and deep:
broad in terms of the variety of projects, from domestic and
smaller scale private facilities to immense public projects, as
well as its widely based influence on ideas and practices,
expanding even into urban planning and the theory and application
of green architecture; and deep in regard to the overall, aggregate
impact he has had on the profession.”
Piano becomes the 64th AIA Gold Medalist, joining the ranks of such
visionaries as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis
Sullivan, LeCorbusier, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, Santiago
Calatrava and last year’s recipient, Edward Larrabee Barnes.
In recognition of his legacy to architecture, Piano’s name
will be chiseled into the granite Wall of Honor in the lobby of the
AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C.
About The American Institute of
Architects
For 150 years, members of The American Institute of Architects have
worked with each other and their communities to create more
valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and
cityscapes. AIA members have access to the right people, knowledge,
and tools to create better design, and through such resources and
access, they help clients and communities make their visions real.
www.aia.org
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