Best Works of Renzo Piano

Centre Georges Pompidou

Built in Paris between 1971 and 1977, the Pompidou Center is the proud home to a public library, the largest modern art museum in Europe (the Musée National d’Art Moderne), and a top-of-the-league music and acoustics study center. Piano built the structure as an over-the-top ode to high-tech architecture in which he strives to reveal a building’s inner workings and technological marvels that typically remain hidden beneath its surface.

Parco della Musica

Considered one of the most-visited music facilities in the world, Rome’s Parco della Musica was designed by Piano on the same grounds of the 1960 Summer Olympic Games. The facilities comprise three massive dome-like structures that hold three separate concert halls. One unique note about the construction: in forging new ground, Piano and co found remains of the old. The construction process unearthed an ancient Italian villa that Renzo Piano decided to include in his designs.

The Shard

Set to be opened in February of 2013 and finished only last year, The Shard is one of Piano’s most recent projects. Setting the record as the tallest building in the European Union, the Shard was named after critics suggested that it clashed too much with the current London skyline and resembled a “shard of glass” in the heart of the city. Once it opens, the building will offer office and retail spaces, a hotel, luxury residences, top-notch restaurants, a five-story public viewing gallery, and a spa.

Kansai International Airport

The main terminal was designed by Renzo Piano with Japanese architect Noriaki Okabe to promote airflow throughout the concourse as well as provide glass walls that clearly display nearly every aspect of the airport’s operation.