RENZ O PIAN O WORL D TOUR 0 3
Forty days journey discovering the architecture of RPBW
ISBN 978-88-6242-465-3
A project sponsored by
First edition October 2020 © LetteraVentidue Edizioni © professionearchitetto.it © Introduction texts: Elisa Scapicchio, Elisa Cavaglion, Mariagrazia Barletta, Giulia Mura. © Texts: Andrea Basso, Raúl Ferrándiz, Lukas Kaufmann, Paul-Antoine Lucas, Valentina Macca, Eirinaios-Stylianos Palapanis. Photographers: © Andrea Basso: pp.18,35, 41, 43, 45, 47, 49, 57, 59, 63, 74, 87, 91, 93, 95, 97, 98, 100, 104. © Raúl Ferrándiz: pp.20, 33. © Lukas Kaufmann: pp.39, 52, 65, 68, 69, 85, 87,108. © Paul-Antoine Lucas: pp.82, 84, 88, 94. © Valentina Macca: pp.21, 26, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 36, 40, 44, 48, 60, 62, 66, 71, 80, 92, 96, 99, 110. © Eirinaios-Stylianos Palapanis: pp.56. © Elisa Scapicchio, professionearchitetto.it: pp.6, 14, 19, 114. © Elisa Cavaglion, professionearchitetto.it: pp.10. © Daniela Fanni, professionearchitetto.it: pp.121. © RPBW, ph. Shunji Ishida: pp.116, 118, 120, 122, 123. © Emanuel Fraisse: pp.8. © Michel Denancé: pp.31. © SNFCC ph. Yiorgis Yerolymbos: pp.38. © Fondazione Renzo Piano, ©KIAC, ©Kawatetsu: pp.58. © Nic Lehoux: pp.80.
Supported by
In collaboration with
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, even for internal or educational use. Italian legislation only allows reproduction for personal use and provided it does not damage the author. Therefore, reproduction is illegal when it replaces the actual purchase of a book as it threatens the survival of a way of transmitting knowledge. Photocopying a book, providing the means to photocopy, or facilitating this practice by any means is like committing theft and damaging culture. If any mistakes or omissions have been made concerning the copyrights of the illustrations, they will be corrected in the next reprint. Book conception Fondazione Renzo Piano Book design Francesco Trovato Book curator Lorenzo Ciccarelli LetteraVentidue Edizioni Srl Via Luigi Spagna 50 P 96100 Siracusa, Italy www.letteraventidue.com
Followed by
@rpwt40days
RPWT - Renzo Piano World Tour in 40 days
CO N TE N T S
9
Renzo Piano World Tour Award 2019
73 AMERICA 75 Meeting in North America
13 PARIS
103 UGANDA
15 Like Renzo Piano’s career, the journey starts with the Beaubourg
105 Entebbe: Emergency children's surgery center
23 EUROPE
113 GENOVA
25 Eyes on Europe
115 Travel, understand and return
51 JAPAN AUSTRALIA
125 REPORTS
53 Australia and Japan compared
140 Acknowledgments
p i c t u r e : Renzo, Milly and the six graduates at the RPBW in Rue d e s A r c h i v e s , P a r i s , F r a n c e g r o u p 1 : Eirianos Palapanis, Valentina Macca and Paul-Antoine L u c a s g r o u p 2 : Lukas Kaufmann, Andrea Basso and Raúl Ferrándiz López
40 days
4
continents
12
time zones
22 cities
200
buildings
320
walked km
Our story starts almost like this..... "There are two Italians, a Spaniard, a Greek, a German, a French on a plane"
p i c t u r e : Construction site of the École Normale Supérieure Pari s - S a c l a y , F r a n c e ( i n progress, RPBW)
RENZO PIANO WORLD TOUR AWARD 2019
“Travel is discovery, travel is life. When you set out on your travels, you look for one thing and find another. A journey is a bit like going to some big library and looking for a book. It’s true that you’re looking for that book, but while you’re searching for it, you’ll come across a lot of others”, says Renzo Piano. In the conviction that travel and the physical exploration of buildings are fundamental experiences for young architects, since 2017 the Renzo Piano Foundation promoted a series of scholarships for a trip around the world lasting 40 days, spent visiting buildings by Renzo Piano Building Workshop and other famous architectural works. The annual award is now in its third edition. This year we managed to involve other sponsors in addition to our Foundation. The Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Fundación Botín, already involved last year, were joined by Selvaag Gruppen, a Norwegian developer and real estate operator, The Vitra Design Foundation, which established and nurtured the well-known design museum at Weil am Rhein in Germany, and Taschen Publications.
As a consequence, six universities were involved in the selection and the winners who travelled for 40 days around the world became six. The universities of Catania, Athens, Oslo, Padua, Valencia and Munich selected their graduates by a public call, based on the selection criteria identified by Professor Edoardo Narne of the University of Padua. The choice was based on the candidates’ portfolio, curriculum, experiences of travel abroad and knowledge of English, keeping in mind that the theme was the “Art of Construction: the importance of structural details”. The award was therefore presented to Valentina Macca (Università degli studi di Catania – Syracuse campus), Paul-Antoine Yves Marie Lucas (Oslo School of Architecture and Design), Eirinaios-Stylianos Palapanis (National Technical University of Athens), Andrea Basso (University of Padua), Raúl Ferrándiz Lopez (Polytechnic University of València), Lukas Kauffmann (Technische Universität München). The 40 days world tour started for the six winners in Paris and ended, after about five weeks, in Entebbe
8 > 9
departures
days
12 > 13
DAY 1 GROUP 1&2 PARIS The journey begins here! Group 1&2 together ready for the RPWT!
p i c t u r e : Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1971-1977, Pi a n o & R o g e r s )
DAY 2 GROUP 1&2 PARIS RPBW Paris “Do you guys have a meter with you? You should, because measuring is knowing” with these words Renzo Piano sent us out in the field to visit the almost completed construction site of Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, after a warm welcome in his office with his wife Milly. We were shown ongoing projects from members of the staff and had an insight in their inspiring work environment. Thanks to everyone at RPBW for having us today!
p i c t ure: RPBW model shop in Rue des Archives, Paris, Franc e
18 > 19
departures
days
50 > 51
p i c t u r e : RaĂşl in New Caledonia
AUSTRALIA AND JAPAN COMPARED Just as in music a pause between two notes is essential to create the rhythm, so the Renzo Piano World Tour, after the intense European stage and before the American adventure, changes the tempo on the far side of the world. It becomes more introspective, with fewer visits planned and a freer schedule, leaving the travelers time to learn from everything, even the silence of nature. Their notes, sketches and countless snaps recount their journey based on a comparison between two continents in different hemispheres, where the antithetical way of interpreting nature and urban development prompts the young designers to engage in a broader reflection on architecture and landscape. Kyoto. The rigor of Japanese gardens The account of the East, for both groups, is entwined with that of nature. It leads them to explore, snap after snap, the landscapes enclosed within the walls of Japanese temples and the boundless spaces that embrace the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center in Nouméa. On the one hand carefully controlled, riddling compositions of vegetation, water, rocks and pebbles.
On the other wild nature featuring red earth, unkempt shrubs and waves breaking against reefs. For Eirinaios, Paul-Antoine and Valentina, their arrival in Japan begins when they land at the spectacular Kansai International Airport. From here, a series of buses take them to Kyoto, “a city with modern buildings, rather rigid urban structures and then incredible green oases of temples and gardens”. They visit many gardens, from the dry landscape of the Ryōan-ji temple to the greenery of the Katsura Imperial Villa, then on to the famous Zen temple of Kinkaku-ji covered with gold leaf and the changing landscape of Ginkaku-ji, where nature makes “the different pavilions appear and disappear”. And still to follow are spectacular gardens of water, stones and plants, in the Nijō castle between tatami rooms (traditional Japanese-style room with a mats as flaring and the tunnels of red and black torii (the traditional gate at the entrance of a shrine), in the Shinto Fushimi Inari-Taisha shrine and in the heights of Kiyomizudera Temple for a last farewell to the city. What unites these places, according to Valentina, is their
52 > 53
departures
days
112 > 113
p i c t u r e : In front of the Bigo, Genoa old harbour, Italy (1985- 1 9 9 2 , R P B W )
TRAVEL, UNDERSTAND AND RETURN
After leaving Africa, Valentina, Andrea, Raul, Lukas, Eirinaios and Paul-Antoine return from their travels, flying into Genoa after a 40-day architectural marathon. It will take weeks, maybe months, for them to fully understand all they have absorbed from this long journey comprising architecture, different cultures and the relationships between people and places. There will also be time to explore and catalogue the memories in their mental archive, to fix every detail in the right place. But waiting for them now, at the Renzo Piano Foundation, there is a festive air, that of the great family of the Renzo Piano World Tour, which in just 3 years has already grown to 10. Around the large square table, in addition to Renzo Piano, Milly Rossato Piano (Director of Educational Programs) and Giovanna Giusto (Communication), are Giorgio Grandi (fellow RPBW), Roberto Bosi of ProViaggiArchitettura and Marcello Bacchini of Habitat 2020, as well as Silvia Pellizzari (winner of the 1st edition), Thomas Pepino (one of the 3 winners of the 2nd edition) and the team of professionearchitetto.it, with notebooks and cameras ready to recount the two days.
From the built architectural works to the Foundation, the RPBW studio and the archive housing the original projects: this last stage is a journey within the journey for the travelers, weaving together their memories before the projects hanging on the walls, exploring the details with the project leaders of some of their favorite works and finally discussing the importance of the profession with Renzo Piano. From memory to history: the Renzo Piano Foundation From Uganda to Liguria, the Renzo Piano Foundation is metaphorically the ideal landing place for rearranging ideas and retracing the journey just completed. The young architects are guided by architect Shunji Ishida, a fellow and a key figure in the RPBW universe, having worked with Piano for over 47 years. He succeeded in conveying his passion and dedication to architecture in the few hours together, generously making available his historical memory to retrace a path into the past. Here the six architects find models, drawings and mock-ups of the works seen from life, among neatly arranged rolls of drawings and
114 > 115