On Renzo Piano

By 2Things@Once on Flickr

Renzo Piano is possibly the most popular celebrity architect in the world right now. The Times has a review of his newest building, an addition to the Art Institute of Chicago that opened in the last week. But first, let's look at the notable hits from Piano:


Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris


Academy of Sciences, San Francisco


and more...


Renzo Piano Embraces Chicago - New York Times Architecture Review

America has been suffering from Renzo Piano fatigue.

For years Mr. Piano seemed to be snapping up all the best commissions: the renovation of the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan, a science center in San Francisco and museum additions in Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and Fort Worth.

... it is the light that most people will notice. Mr. Piano has been slowly refining his lighting systems since the mid-1980s, when he completed his design for the Menil Collection building in Houston. Over the years these efforts have taken on a quasi-religious aura, with curators and museum directors analyzing the light in his galleries like priests dissecting holy texts.

At the Art Institute Mr. Piano has stripped the system down to its essence. The glass roof of the top-floor galleries is supported on delicate steel trusses. Rows of white blades rest on top of the trusses to filter out strong southern light; thin fabric panels soften the view from below.

The idea is to make you aware of the shifts in daylight — over the course of a visit, from one season to another — without distracting you from the artwork, and the effect is magical. On a clear afternoon you can catch faint glimpses through the structural frame of clouds drifting by overhead. But most of the time the art takes center stage, everything else fading quietly into the background.