Giorgio Bianchi
Senior Partner RPBW
Biographical notes
Born in 1957, he studied architecture at Genoa University. Between 1986 and 1994 he worked in the Genoa office on most of the major projects of that time including the rehabilitation of Genoa harbour. In 1995 he joined the Paris office and became a partner in 1997. He was in charge of the Morgan Library expansion project in New York and is currently working on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens.
Born in 1957, he studied architecture at Genoa University. Between 1986 and 1994 he worked in the Genoa office on most of the major projects of that time including the rehabilitation of Genoa harbour. In 1995 he joined the Paris office and became a partner in 1997. He was in charge of the Morgan Library expansion project in New York and is currently working on the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens.
Abstract
Once again this year Fondazione Renzo Piano will be taking part in Cersaie with a conference devoted to “making architecture”.
It is part of a series of meetings that began in 2009 with the conference given by Renzo Piano and continued in 2010 with the presentation of the Central Saint Giles project in London.
In 2011, RPBW partner Giorgio Bianchi will take us on a journey through New York, describing the city through projects carried out by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, in particular the new headquarters of the New York Times and the Morgan Library.
The journey begins with memories of 11 September 2001, when Giorgio Bianchi and Renzo Piano were in New York. The message that architecture can get across is that this tragedy can serve as an opportunity to rethink these buildings within the city’s landscape.
The result is two utterly different and yet complementary projects: a skyscraper “with a human face” whose light and vibrant presence changes with the climate and breathes with the wind. It is a building distinguished by its lightness, transparency and immateriality, a place that is open to the city as a symbol of a new relationship between private and public.
The Morgan Library project is in some ways the opposite of the New York Times Building, as though a skyscraper had been turned upside-down and embedded in a hole dug out underneath Manhattan. The building was constructed down to a depth of 15 metres in schist, the extremely hard age-old rock on which the city stands. It was a complex project because it involve excavation at a distance of just 25 cm from adjacent buildings.
The resultant museum is a kind of underground monument, a space of 2,500 square metres hollowed out from the underbelly of New York.
Giorgio Bianchi, head architect on the project, will retrace the history of two buildings that in a way provide different answers to the same question.
Once again this year Fondazione Renzo Piano will be taking part in Cersaie with a conference devoted to “making architecture”.
It is part of a series of meetings that began in 2009 with the conference given by Renzo Piano and continued in 2010 with the presentation of the Central Saint Giles project in London.
In 2011, RPBW partner Giorgio Bianchi will take us on a journey through New York, describing the city through projects carried out by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, in particular the new headquarters of the New York Times and the Morgan Library.
The journey begins with memories of 11 September 2001, when Giorgio Bianchi and Renzo Piano were in New York. The message that architecture can get across is that this tragedy can serve as an opportunity to rethink these buildings within the city’s landscape.
The result is two utterly different and yet complementary projects: a skyscraper “with a human face” whose light and vibrant presence changes with the climate and breathes with the wind. It is a building distinguished by its lightness, transparency and immateriality, a place that is open to the city as a symbol of a new relationship between private and public.
The Morgan Library project is in some ways the opposite of the New York Times Building, as though a skyscraper had been turned upside-down and embedded in a hole dug out underneath Manhattan. The building was constructed down to a depth of 15 metres in schist, the extremely hard age-old rock on which the city stands. It was a complex project because it involve excavation at a distance of just 25 cm from adjacent buildings.
The resultant museum is a kind of underground monument, a space of 2,500 square metres hollowed out from the underbelly of New York.
Giorgio Bianchi, head architect on the project, will retrace the history of two buildings that in a way provide different answers to the same question.
close
