a+u No. 652: Renzo Piano Building Workshop 2010–2025 surveys 25 projects across fifteen years of RPBW practice, tracing how the Genoa and Paris offices sustain a coherent architectural philosophy across radically different urban and cultural conditions.
About This Book
From a children's surgical hospital in Uganda built with rammed earth and solar technology to the cliff-like mass of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens, this issue of a+u demonstrates the breadth and consistency of Renzo Piano Building Workshop's approach. What holds these projects together is not a signature form but a set of persistent values: structural lightness, environmental integration, and an unwavering attention to human experience. The selection spans historic cities — London, Istanbul — and purpose-built landmarks, making this an essential document of how site-specific architecture operates at institutional scale. For anyone tracking contemporary practice in urban design and sustainable construction, this monographic issue is indispensable.
Key Features
- 192 pages of project documentation, drawings, and photography across 25 works
- Notable projects include Uganda's Children's Surgical Hospital and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, Athens
- Published by Shinkenchiku-sha, 2025
What You'll Discover
- How RPBW's Genoa and Paris offices adapt a shared design philosophy to diverse urban contexts, from historic European cities to new civic landmarks
- The practice's use of rammed-earth construction and solar technology in the Uganda Children's Surgical Hospital — a humanist project that embodies what the issue calls a solarpunk spirit
- An analytical approach to monumental site-specific challenges, as demonstrated by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center's response to its Athens clifftop setting
- The relationship between structural lightness and environmental integration as consistent drivers across fifteen years of RPBW commissions
About the Author
[Details available upon request]
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 192
- Dimensions: 220 x 290 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9784900213128
- Publisher: Shinkenchiku-sha
- Publication Date: 2025
Perfect For: Architects, urban designers, and students of contemporary practice with an interest in humanist, environmentally integrated design at institutional scale.