Renzo Piano in the context of "The Shard"

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⭐ Core Definition: Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano OMRI (Italian: [ˈrɛntso ˈpjaːno]; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable works include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), Kansai International Airport in Osaka (1994), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City (2015), Istanbul Museum of Modern Art in Istanbul (2022), Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens (2016) and The New York Times Building in New York City (2007). He was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 1998.

Piano has served as a senator for life in the Italian Senate since 2013.

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👉 Renzo Piano in the context of The Shard

The Shard, also referred to as the Shard London Bridge and formerly London Bridge Tower, is a 72-storey mixed-use development supertall pyramid-shaped skyscraper, designed by the Italian architect Renzo Piano, in Southwark, London, that forms part of The Shard Quarter development. Standing 309.6 metres (1,016 feet) high, The Shard is the tallest building in the United Kingdom; the seventh-tallest building in Europe; the second-tallest outside Russia behind the Varso Tower in Warsaw, which beats the Shard by less than half a metre, and the 203rd tallest building in the world. The Shard replaced Southwark Towers, a 24-storey office block built on the site in 1975.

The Shard's construction began in March 2009; it was topped out on 30 March 2012 and inaugurated on 5 July 2012. Practical completion was achieved in November 2012. The tower's privately operated observation deck, The View from The Shard, was opened to the public on 1 February 2013. The glass-clad pyramidal tower has 72 habitable floors, with a viewing gallery and open-air observation deck on the 72nd floor, at a height of 244 metres (801 ft). The Shard was developed by Sellar Property Group on behalf of LBQ Ltd and is jointly owned by Sellar Property (5%) and the State of Qatar (95%).

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Renzo Piano in the context of Senators for life in Italy

Senators for life in Italy (Italian: senatori a vita) are members of the Italian Senate who are either appointed, limited in number up to five, by the Italian president "for outstanding patriotic merits in the social, scientific, artistic or literary field" or are former presidents and thus senators for life ex officio.

Every president of the Italian Republic has made at least one appointment of a senator for life, with the exception of Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (since in his term there were more than five). President Giorgio Napolitano appointed Professor Mario Monti on 9 November 2011 and conductor Claudio Abbado, researcher Elena Cattaneo, architect Renzo Piano and Nobel-laureate physicist Carlo Rubbia on 30 August 2013. The president who appointed the highest number of senators for life was Luigi Einaudi, who made eight appointments during his term.

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Renzo Piano in the context of The New York Times Building

The New York Times Building is a 52-story skyscraper at 620 Eighth Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets near Times Square, on the west side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Its chief tenant is the New York Times Company, publisher of The New York Times. The building is 1,046 ft (318.8 m) tall to its pinnacle, with a roof height of 748 ft (228 m). Designed by Renzo Piano and Fox & Fowle, the building was developed by the New York Times Company, Forest City Ratner, and ING Real Estate. The interiors are divided into separate ownership units, with the New York Times Company operating the lower office floors and Brookfield Properties operating the upper floors. As of 2025, the New York Times Building is tied with the Chrysler Building as the thirteenth-tallest building in the city.

The building is cruciform in plan and has a steel-framed superstructure with a braced mechanical core. It consists of the office tower on the west side of the land lot as well as four-story podium on the east side. Its facade is largely composed of a glass curtain wall, in front of which are ceramic rods that deflect heat and glare. The steel framing and bracing is exposed at the four corner "notches" of the building. The New York Times Building is designed as a green building. The lower stories have a lobby, retail space, and the Times newsroom surrounding an enclosed garden. The other stories are used as office space.

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Renzo Piano in the context of Aquarium of Genoa

The Aquarium of Genoa (Acquario di Genova) is the largest aquarium in Italy and one of the most significant in Europe. It is located in the Old Harbour (Porto Antico) area of Genoa, Liguria, and was designed by the architect Renzo Piano as part of the urban redevelopment project created for the Expo 1992, celebrating the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s voyage to the Americas. The aquarium is operated by Costa Edutainment S.p.A. and is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria (EAZA). It attracts over 1.2 million visitors each year.

The facility houses around 12,000 animals representing more than 600 species, displayed in over 70 exhibition tanks that recreate marine and terrestrial ecosystems from around the world — from tropical seas to polar regions. Among its main themed areas are the Shark Bay, the Lagoon of the Sirens, the Cetacean Pavilion, and the Kingdom of Ice.

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Renzo Piano in the context of Centre Pompidou

The Centre Pompidou (French pronunciation: [sɑ̃tʁ pɔ̃pidu]), more fully the Centre national d'art et de culture Georges-Pompidou (lit.'National Georges Pompidou Centre of Art and Culture'), also known as the Pompidou Centre in English and colloquially as Beaubourg, is a building complex in Paris, France. It was designed in the style of high-tech architecture by the architectural team of Richard Rogers, Su Rogers and Renzo Piano, along with Gianfranco Franchini. It is named after Georges Pompidou, the President of France from 1969 to 1974 who commissioned the building, and was officially opened on 31 January 1977 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

Centre Pompidou is located in the Beaubourg area of the 4th arrondissement of Paris. It houses the Bibliothèque publique d'information (BPI; Public Information Library), a vast public library, and the Musée National d'Art Moderne, the largest museum for modern art in Europe. The Place Georges Pompidou is an open plaza in front of the museum.

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Renzo Piano in the context of Royal Opera House, Valletta

The Royal Opera House, also known as the Royal Theatre (Maltese: It-Teatru Rjal, Italian: Teatro Reale), was an opera house and performing arts venue in Valletta, Malta. It was designed by the English architect Edward Middleton Barry and was erected in 1866. In 1873 its interior was extensively damaged by fire but was eventually restored by 1877. The theatre received a direct hit from aerial bombing in 1942 during World War II. Prior to its destruction, it was one of the most beautiful and iconic buildings in Valletta. After several abandoned plans to rebuild the theatre, the ruins were redesigned by the Italian architect Renzo Piano and in 2013 it once again started functioning as a performance venue, called Pjazza Teatru Rjal.

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Renzo Piano in the context of Kansai International Airport

Kansai International Airport (Japanese: 関西国際空港, romanizedKansai Kokusai Kūkō; IATA: KIX, ICAO: RJBB), commonly known as Kankū (Japanese: 関空), is located on an artificial island and serves as the primary international airport in the Greater Osaka Area of Japan and the closest international airport to the cities of Osaka, Kyoto, and Kobe. It is located on an artificial island, Kankūjima (関空島), in the middle of Osaka Bay off the Honshu shore, 38 km (24 mi) southwest of Ōsaka Station, located within three municipalities, including Izumisano (north), Sennan (south), and Tajiri (central), in Osaka Prefecture. The airport's first airport island covers approximately 510 hectares (1,260 acres) and the second covers approximately 545 hectares (1,347 acres), for a total of 1,055 hectares (2,607 acres).

Kansai opened on 4 September 1994 to relieve overcrowding at Osaka International Airport, also called Itami Airport, which is closer to Osaka. It consists of two terminals: Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. Terminal 1, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, is the longest airport terminal in the world with a length of 1.7 km (1+116 mi). The airport serves as an international hub for All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines, and Nippon Cargo Airlines and as a hub for Peach, the first international low-cost carrier in Japan. It is also the north Pacific hub for FedEx Express, which obtained fifth freedom rights under the 1998 U.S. and Japan air agreement and established the hub in 2014.

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Renzo Piano in the context of Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) (Greek: Κέντρο Πολιτισμού Ίδρυμα Σταύρος Νιάρχος (ΚΠΙΣΝ)) is a cultural center complex in the municipality of Kallithea in Athens, Greece. It includes new facilities for the National Library of Greece (NLG) and the Greek National Opera (GNO), as well as the 210,000 m (2,300,000 sq ft) Stavros Niarchos Park. The center was designed by architect Renzo Piano and its construction was funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. The $861 million project was completed in 2016, and was donated to the Greek state in 2017.

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