AD Interviews: Renzo Piano - Part I
Summary
TLDRIn this insightful transcript, ROP Piano, an architect by destiny, shares his philosophy on architecture. Born into a family of builders, he sees architecture as more than just building; it's about creating solid shelters with poetry, beauty, and community. He emphasizes the importance of necessity guiding the creation of beautiful and functional spaces. ROP leads a participative office with multiple partners and associates, maintaining a stable size and focusing on quality over quantity. With offices in Paris and New York, his practice is a testament to the freedom and privilege of selecting meaningful projects that resonate with their values. Architecture, to him, is the art of answering practical needs while also fulfilling human desires.
Takeaways
- 🏛️ The speaker, ROP Piano, is an architect who views architecture as more than just building; it's about creating poetry, beauty, and community.
- 👷♂️ ROP Piano comes from a family of builders and believes in the importance of being a good builder to achieve beauty and magic in architecture.
- 📈 The architectural office has a fluctuating number of employees, generally under 50, with a participative system involving partners and associates.
- 🤝 ROP Piano has a team with long-term experience, some working together for up to 40 years, which contributes to the office's stability and quality.
- 🌟 The office has two main locations, one in Paris and another historically significant one in Marseille, reflecting the speaker's past collaborations.
- 🌐 There is also a smaller office in New York, with additional local offices in various places where the firm works, emphasizing a global presence.
- 🚫 The office is selective about the projects they undertake, viewing this selectivity as a privilege that allows them to focus on meaningful architecture.
- 💡 ROP Piano sees architecture as an art form that serves a practical need for shelter while also addressing human desires and dreams.
- 🎨 Architecture is described as the art of making places for people, emphasizing the humanistic aspect of the profession.
- 🏡 The speaker discusses the importance of celebrating positive values like tolerance and community rather than negative traits like power and arrogance in architecture.
- 🏢 The office's approach to growth is steady and consistent, avoiding rapid expansion or reduction, reflecting a commitment to quality over quantity.
Q & A
Who is ROP Piano and what is his profession?
-ROP Piano is an architect who grew up in a family of builders and has a deep-rooted connection to the field of construction and architecture.
What does ROP Piano believe architecture is beyond just building?
-ROP Piano believes that architecture is much more than just building; it encompasses poetry, beauty, community, society, and humanism.
What is ROP Piano's philosophy on the relationship between necessity and beauty in architecture?
-ROP Piano believes that the force of necessity can lead to beauty, magic, lightness, and poetry in architecture, but one must still be a good builder.
How many people are in ROP Piano's architectural office, approximately?
-The exact number is not known, but ROP Piano mentions that they are under 50 people, fluctuating between 20 and 60.
What is unique about the structure and management of ROP Piano's architectural office?
-ROP Piano's office has a participative system with 12 partners and 15-16 associates, sharing ownership and a wealth of experience ranging up to 40 years.
Why did ROP Piano and Richard Rogers part ways after working together on the Pompidou project?
-After the completion of the Pompidou project, Richard Rogers went back to London, and ROP Piano stayed in Paris, leading to their separation.
Where are the offices of ROP Piano's architectural firm located?
-They have two main offices, one in Paris, which is the largest, and another in New York. Additionally, they have local offices in various places where they work.
How does ROP Piano view the privilege and freedom in his architectural practice?
-ROP Piano sees the privilege not as a luxury but as a freedom to select the projects they want to work on, based on their belief in the value of architecture.
What is ROP Piano's approach to accepting new work in his architectural practice?
-ROP Piano is very selective and cautious about accepting new work, choosing only projects they truly love and feel passionate about, which contributes to the firm's stability.
How does ROP Piano define the role of architecture in society?
-ROP Piano defines architecture as the art of making shelters for human beings, fulfilling practical needs while also answering to desires and dreams.
What does ROP Piano believe makes architecture 'nicer'?
-ROP Piano believes that architecture is much nicer when it celebrates values such as tolerance, togetherness, and joy, rather than power, money, or arrogance.
Outlines
🏛️ Architectural Philosophy and Practice
In this paragraph, ROP piano, an architect by profession, discusses his journey and philosophy towards architecture. He comes from a family of builders and grew up with the idea that architecture is more than just building; it's about creating spaces that are poetic, beautiful, and serve the community. He emphasizes the importance of necessity guiding the creation of good, solid buildings and that architecture is an art form that should be able to provide shelter for human beings. He also talks about his architectural firm, which is a participative system with multiple partners and associates, and how they operate with offices in Paris and New York, among other places. The firm is selective about the projects they take on, valuing the art of architecture and focusing on creating spaces that they truly love and believe in.
🎨 The Art of Architecture Beyond Necessity
This paragraph delves into the dual nature of architecture as both a practical and a storytelling medium. The speaker discusses how even the most basic structures have a story to tell and a desire to represent something more than mere shelter. He contrasts architecture that celebrates negative aspects like power and arrogance with that which celebrates positive values such as tolerance and community. The speaker believes that architecture is at its best when it not only meets practical needs but also fulfills desires and dreams, combining the force of necessity with the aspirations of the people it serves. The paragraph concludes with the idea that architecture should be an art that answers both the practical and the emotional needs of society.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Architecture
💡Builder
💡Workshop
💡Necessity
💡Poetry
💡Community
💡Humanism
💡Shelter
💡Office
💡Privilege
💡Art
Highlights
ROP piano is an architect by destiny, influenced by his family of builders.
Architecture is more than just building; it encompasses poetry, beauty, community, and humanism.
The essence of architecture is creating good, solid shelter for human beings.
The force of necessity can lead to beauty, magic, lightness, and poetry in architecture.
Being a good builder is fundamental to achieving architectural excellence.
ROP piano's office has a participative system with multiple partners and associates.
The office size fluctuates between 20 and 60 people, emphasizing quality over quantity.
ROP piano has two main offices, one in Paris and another historically significant one in New York.
The team has a wealth of experience, with some members working together for over 40 years.
The office operates with a sense of freedom and selectivity in choosing projects.
ROP piano values the art of making places for people over the pressure to grow the business.
The office maintains a steady size, akin to maintaining a consistent weight over time.
Architecture is the art of making shelter, a fundamental human need.
Even the most humble architectural structures have a story and a desire to represent.
Architecture can sometimes be disturbing when it celebrates negative aspects like power or arrogance.
Positive values like tolerance and community are celebrated in better architectural designs.
Architecture is the art of balancing practical needs with desires and dreams.
Transcripts
[Music]
my name is ROP piano I'm Architect by
Destiny I guess because I grew up in a
family of
Builder and um in some way I grew up
with the idea that making Arch St is
making building the office is called
building workshop because it is like a
building
workshop I decided not to become a
builder I wanted to become an architect
but I still feel
that the building workshop is a kind of
central Focus you know I know exactly
that architecture is not just Building
architecture is much more than building
his poetry his beauty is a his community
so Society is a humanism but at the end
of the day architecture is the art of
making good solid building good solid
shelter for human beings and this is
what you have to be able to do the the
force of necessity is what guide you if
you're good enough the force of
necessity
can
get to Beauty can get to Magic can get
to lightness it can get to
poetry but you still need to be a good
Builder so this is the profile of the
office we are
100 I never know exactly but I think we
are under 50 people we are moving
between 20 under 30 under 50 and 60 then
we come back but it's about that I have
a very participative system in the
office I have 12 partners
I think I have 15 16
Associates uh so I have a number of
people sharing actually the property of
the the the ownership of the
office and sharing sometime up to 40
years of experience you know some people
work together with me we work together
since 40 years sometime 30 years
sometime 20 but I have a very good grou
group of
people we have two office one is in
Paris the other one that is historical
because the scenes of s pompom that I
still call Buu it was
71 that was a job I did together with
Richard Roger that since his best
friends or we share many things with
Rich but after the boooo we split he
went back to London I stay in Paris so
one office is in Paris the biggest then
we have an office in general we have an
office smaller yeah in New York and then
of course we have local
office in in the different place where
we do
work we don't take too much we are very
lucky we are very privileged person but
you know I don't see like a privilege I
I see this like a Freedom we have the
privilege to to be able to select what
we want to do we are not obliged we are
not struggling we are not starving to do
everything we are very quite difficult
in in accepting new work and this is not
arrogance this is really because we
believe in value of architecture as art
of making place for people so we don't
take everything we just take what we
really feel we love to do and that gives
us a good
solidity in in the sense that we don't
have to to grow or to reduce quickly I
mean we are kind of like those person
that wait always the same weight you
know they keep like I am I'm like that
since 50 years my son I don't
get bigger I don't get thinner you know
I like that so this idea of of a good
side that
stays H it's a very
important architecture for me is the art
of making shelter for human being you
know and and this is true this is like
this is one of the first profession in
the world the man the human Community
always needed protection so this is
where to start from but you realize
quickly that that has never been a
practical activity even the most humble
hat has a story to tell you know there's
a semantic there there's the desire to
show something to celebrate or to
represent yourself the house or the
house of the community is always
something sometime unfortunately you
celebrate power
money arrogance and and normally that
makes the quite bad architecture
sometime not bad but very very
disturbing architecture is much nicer
when you have to celebrate something
better like tolerance like being
together like enjoying the same Joy by
example like educational building or
like cultural building like music
architecture is is the art of
answering practical need in the same
time is the Art of answering
desires is it look almost in
contradiction but it's not true is
there's no contradiction between real
need pure force of necessity and desire
or
dreams they come together actually
architecture is architecture only one it
answer also to desire otherwise it just
too to basic to too
flat
[Music]
yeah
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