Renzo Piano
born 1937
Italian architect of the Whitney and the Art Institute's Modern Wing
Builders and architects
Renzo Piano, born in Genoa in 1937, made his name as a young man with Richard Rogers on the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the building that wears its pipes on the outside. He won the Pritzker Prize, architecture's highest honor, in 1998, and since 2013 he has been a senator for life in Italy. His museums are known for light: he spends enormous effort on how daylight falls on the art.
Three of his museums are on our walks. In Chicago, the Art Institute's Modern Wing of 2009 is at the first stop. At Harvard, he rebuilt and joined the university's three art museums under one glass roof in 2014. In New York, the Whitney moved into his building beside the High Line in 2015. Our tip at the Whitney is to start on the eighth floor and work down, and the outdoor terraces on the way look out over the Hudson and the High Line.
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Known for
- Centre Pompidou, with Richard Rogers1977
- Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago2009
- Harvard Art Museums2014
- Whitney Museum of American Art2015
Where to meet them
Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Harvard Art MuseumsStop 8, Harvard, the Yard and around it
Chicago
- Art Institute of ChicagoStop 1, Chicago, the lakefront to Navy Pier
New York
- Whitney Museum of American ArtStop 10, New York, the High Line through Hudson Yards and Chelsea
Boston
- Harvard Art Museums, CambridgeDestination Book