Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano, OMRI, OMCA (Italian: [ˈrɛntso ˈpjaːno]; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect and engineer, who won the Pritzker Prize in 1998. Architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff said of Piano's works that the "...serenity of his best buildings can almost make you believe that we live in a civilized world."

In 2006, Piano was selected by TIME as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He was selected as the 10th most influential person in the "Arts and Entertainment" category of the 2006 Time 100.

In August 2013 he was appointed Senator for Life in the Italian Senate by President Giorgio Napolitano.

Biography

Piano was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1937, into a family of builders. He was educated and subsequently taught at the Politecnico di Milano. He graduated from the University in 1964 with a dissertation about modular coordination (coordinazione modulare) supervised by Giuseppe Ciribini and began working with experimental lightweight structures and basic shelters.