e so I'm of course totally honored but actually more than anything else I'm kind of excited beyond words and I have to really pull myself together to introduce tonight's lecture which is the inaugural lecture of the League's new annual series entitled bless you uh the Franzen the Franzen lecture on architecture and environment but before I introduce Mr uh piano however I'd like to tell you something about the person in whose honor this annual lecture series have been established o Rick Franzen um Rick to us has been a mastermind and motive force behind the work of the architecture league for more than 40 years Rick studied architecture at Harvard in the late 40s after distinguished service in the military during the second world war and at Harvard he was part of a phenomenal generation of students who shaped American architecture for the next several decades Rick joined the league in the late 50s and immediately became active in organizing programs and helping to uh generate a spirit of debate and questioning in the League's work and then in the 60s and the following decades he continually and passionately advocated the League addressed the problems facing New York City and in the '90s Rick urged the league to take on environmental issues and impetus that led us to our shades of green programs and events in 1999 and 2000 and now to our first friend and lecture given by lenzo piano the story of early architecture career of Mr piano would be Familiar of course to many of us how as a very young man he and Richard Rogers won the competition to design the pompo center in Paris a job that brought both of them International Fame yet ultimately I think the resonance and power of piano buildings come from I think three things the first of course is his fresh and profound understanding of the precursors of architecture light landscape whether outside or inside pianos buildings those of us who experience them are guided to see The Familiar in a completely new way the second is his Mastery of course of the means of architecture the materiality the craftsmanship and what finesse and finally there is piano's commitment to the human aspect of architecture he designs as a humanist and with a conscience of a naturalist exercising a mind and a hand that are both finely tuned to the delicate interplay between human needs human actions and nature his work work fully embrace the opportunities of creating strong characterful spaces that nonetheless honor and defer to the activity and the work that finds a home within they do this at the same time that they respect the natural world which is in turn the ultimate home of all human institutions that simultaneous boldness and humility is the quality that makes Renzo piano's work so significant for our times and such an important signpost towards the future so enough please join me in welcoming Renzo [Applause] Piano I understand this is the first lecture fren lecture and of course I'm very I'm very honored to be the first Speaker here I have to speak about architectural discipline and environment the first part is easy because I can't just go through my work and I think it's quite easy there is a qu kind of red line that is interconnecting from the first little things to today my career the second one is more delicate argument I think that in some way environment is part of our daily experience in the office we came to this recent acquisition that the Earth is fragile and the cities are vulnerable and um this simple thing is part of our day by day experience so I think probably I will talk about environment by talking about the scheme you know I'm a builder son I grew up in I grew up in a family of Builder and for me the pleasure of of working on with material the pleasure of taking away weight from structur space structures the the passion for gometry was that kind of thing that I started from so the idea that work working with pieces and piece by piece actually and working on material was a part of the architectur experience that's where I started from and you know in some way my itinerary through architectural discipline is the one of a buil a sun that became step by step more and more architect I still quite don't know if I'm I I'm I'm archit today but certainly you add experience so you start from con rtion and then you grow up in complexity this is 71 this is a competition we won with Richard Rogers We Were Young Bad Boys both of us I was 33 was the big man so he was 35 or 36 something like that and then that was a mad experience this kind of a spaceship fall in the center of Paris was our first big experience this is where we finally found that a social life social struggle the idea of a new kind of of of museum than creating less dividence and creating sense of interest and and curiosity was part of the idea this is a picture seen from notam tower the two monster coming together uh it's it's it's a quite a funny picture I love to show because it's actually showing how mad we were and how mad were the people from Paris to let us to do something like that but but you know in some way it was not really even about architecture it was about provocation it was about the idea that culture should come out from um from Monumental building and become part of the city so the idea of the factory was there actually that picture here is a showing the building from our office in rud zash and sometime I feel like myself like a quasim traid in the building because we never go away but you know this was a great experience this is this is a good friend of mine and he is part of that world we were mad but not that mad because it was really a way to insist that intimidation is not a very interesting emotion and the curiosity is much better is the first maybe little Sparkle Sparkle that give space to to culture life so this idea of mixing sacr and profane to bring people together the pza being a part of the story was was a was a very interesting experience so those pieces are showing the I the the fact that this building was really made piece by piece you know those piece are actually 12 tons piece each but I'm showing this picture because I you know at the end of the day an architect is a builder you know it's not just a build of course it's more must be more than a build but it is a build so the perverse pleasure for me to show this kind of thing is part of the story it's it's it's because because construction is very strong experience is part of of the of the adventure and the part of the of the adventure is also of course talking to people listening to people discussing with people this picture was taken in the south of Italy I've been for a long time Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO and I've been working we have been working on the Historical Center this is showing a meeting in the evening in one of the neighborhood of Otranto in in pulia in south of Italy where we were discussing action and how to do renovation another group of good friends here in at this is a slum Factory in Paris this was a renovation of an existing Factory and you know in some way the idea of working on Brown Fields the reusing of of industrial spaces and the cities are like layers one above the other so the idea of working there and bringing back to life all the factory and keeping the memory the old and the new together in this funny mix of layers is part of the history and we have been working with water you see those little guest there on the right and we were very proud about those because they they were born there that that proved that the water of the lake was the good one and in some way yes you can find there a kind of environmental attention not just because of the Ducks but also be in the water but also because the idea that when you work on Brownfield you don't eat more ground you just remake something that is already there and you bring back to life that period was also when we did the first experience in this country in Houston Texas with Dominique de manil this is the manil collection in in Houston this Museum was about light about light about atmosphere um we have been working or meeting many times a person that I love very much that was Rainer banam and rer banam was coming and talking about the architecture of the well-tempered environment the idea that architecture is also made by Atmosphere by light by Sound by perspective by multi multiple planes yeah you are in a room and you see the next plane is a garden then you have another room then you have another garden and that sense of infinite of of a multiple plane is part of the complexity of the space that museum is is a great it was a great experience and and this was kind of concept for for the for the natural light from the top on the left you see the sketch showing those leaves we actually call those element those beams leaves because they are acting like leaves and the light comes from North and a bunch on the surface of the of the Ferro cement pieces Ferro cement is a funny combination of Steel and cement it was something that was practically invented by pier luig in Italy long time ago and with Peter R that was was our engineer that we lost unfortunately 10 years ago Peter was very keen about this Peter was a humanist and so we were working together on those things the invention meeting the Poetry of light and the beauty of Peace of art this is another experience about something I love so much is the music I always wanted to be a musician but I wasn't good enough for that so I've been working and we have been working there so many times with music and musician this is the promus that we made with cloudia good friend and gono in Venice first it was a space acoustical space for an an opera a concert the Opera was the promeo the the players were are actually playing on different level those are again the pieces you will find always that idea that everything is made piece by piece and actually on the other picture you see the piece moving through Venice canals that was not that easy and and the idea that this kind of acoustical chamber came up by working on those big piece of of of a wood and and this is a picture taken in general in my hometown in the aror I think this is part of my personal story as you can see in this pict in the arbor everything flies you know everything flies and everything is a seen double twice because because you have the Reflection from from the from the sea I think the arbor it was probably with with the site of my father was my preferred place I spent all my childhood in every every Sunday on Arbor because the arbor is a great place it's it's like it's like a fantastic City where everything moves around where the building comes and go everything keep changing everything flies is pratically a place where everything fly including the ship because they don't touch ground of course the ship the ship float so everything is floating when you live for a city and you grow up in a city like that there is something that stay remain in your in your in your body about that this is a job we made in general uh for 92 that was the year of the fourth center of discovery of America and because Christopher Columbus was born in genua and this is true by the way it really was born in Gena that's for sure I know by sure well then we did all that work that was a kind of giving back part of the old aror to the city so talking about brownfields talking about environmental I mean this is also part of that it was not really about energy in that case but it was about sustainability of of a scheme that is ur and this is again about flying in some way the poor guy is painting a piece I'm showing this picture because I love the picture that's all and and I'm showing that because I love the boat it's my boat that's my my son boat but but you know talking about water that makes a lot of sense look at the sale I think the there is nothing more beautiful than sales you know when you sail I spent days watching say and my wife tried to to talk me but I keep watching say this talking water here we in the middle of the water we are in a gigantic scheme we made it more than 10 years ago in oaka Bay this is an airport offshore that was built because in Japan you cannot land or take off during in the night this was again with Peter R and over our as and J Peter was a kind of Genius friend andina we were been working on the idea that this building got to be very light of course because earthquakes and when we got the big earthquake in corbette that is right there the building actually moved 2 feet in the air without even breaking a piece of glass and this is is a one mile long building bit more it's about 2 kilomet and it's really like like an immense glider coming down with a double curvature this is the one of the two wiing but all this is just metaphor the truth is that this building got to be light actually when we finished the job the Japanese watch us and said my God what you have done I mean because because they didn't they never understood the scale of this scale you know you should never tell completely the truth to the client you have to be a bit careful sometime anyway we got 10,000 people at work there 10,000 people it's it's it's incredible they were subdivided in four group they were making exercise before starting the day uh uh and and it it was talking about Adventure that's what is great about architecture that is probably the most spiritual thing you can think about in the same time is the most materialistic one because you have to go down to to very practical things how you organize 10,000 people at work it was not our job but it was our duty to understand and you know we didn't got one single bad accident on that job that was one of the good things thing you know because it everything was so well done and organized here we jump but water is always there of course what is a constant we are in our office in Gena well we do very little there in reality because everybody watch the sea but it's it's a place out of the world we have an office in Paris that is in the middle of the maray and this is in the middle of nowhere normally is not that clean but this is watching down you know that kind of and the water the sea is there all the time is a kind of constant background um I I like to show this because of course uh we have a we have a perfect opposite set in Paris that is in the middle the mar is very historic the great little Historical Center of Paris and there's so much that is urban so much this is out of the world and this is a portion of the wall I don't know if this is in general in Paris but we have the same thing we do model all the time we we keep making model and the reason why we make model is not because we are romantic but because of course we we work on sketch we work on on computer computer is a fundamental activity today but nothing can take the place of a physical pleasure of making modeling touching understanding and and and you know it's a constant struggle between drawing computer design modeling and back again to the drawing it's not true that the process of design is linear from the big to the small what is true is that is a circular and you keep feeding the idea and and this is what happened in those in those little shop there and we keep making model and prototype there we do that all the time here we are far away but as you can see of course the water is always there we are in in really in the middle nowhere we are in the middle of the Pacific Sea in new calonia is a place called Numa and we built there a culture center for the kanaki that is also for Maori for aborigin is actually for the culture of the Pacific this building is about H performing because the cult of those of those EES is mostly about performing is Movement Dance sound this job is really at the edge between architecture and anthropology if I have to say and and this job shows there you see those little picture those are SM test and the shape of the building there is actually done because when the the Al Blow The Wind Blows this way and then you have a kind of natural ventilation inside and those building there are sometime the tallest are actually 100t at allall and they are made of wood and they actually sing and this is not our invention they sing because the the building in this in those countries have a sound and when this the wind goes through the the building have a sound this is another example of how the perimeter between construction U uh history culture uh climatic control and all those things come together technology or or the art of telling stories architecture is the art of telling stories is one of the way you can tell stories it's a different one from film making or from from a novel but is a is the art of telling stories so I think this is a very complex story at the edge between architecture and anthropology and this is in in B this is in B and is actually the land where not quite but just by where we built the P clay Museum in be I'm showing this picture because it's my conviction that places talk and they tell a story it's not just Paul clay the painter telling story but even the play tell the story and you know it's not true that plays don't talk I mean it's true that you know you never listen but if you listen they you have a story to tell and every scheme starts from there from listening places this is the idea the building is actually made like that it's like it's like is like moving piece of Earth this is the building built bu there three curves the building was finished about two years ago and this is in in Atlanta the I Museum uh it's it's an addition to the Richard my museum here again it was about building a Panza a space and taking light from the top we actually designed 1,000 those little LS that we are turning to watch North those are studies again again Tech or technique or construction coming together it's not true that there are different moments somebody think that you have the idea and then somebody takes care to make the idea work it's not true it's completely wrong it's I don't know why this this happening but it's it's not true it's never like that so those are just drawing showing different different position of those L because of course they got to Cas light from North we got to turn those thousand miles to take the light it's it's funny somebody told me that only birds will see this and then I said and then what what is wrong about that by the way it's not true it's not true that only birds see that because of course you you see that but again all this is about natural light is about is about breathing it's essential natural light is not perfect is imperfect it lives with you it lives when when a cloud goes by the light goes down you know in the evening change so this give you that sense and you is something that is not yet built but we will soon in London They Call It The Shard of glass is a is a tower that is is 1,000 ft tall we got a public inquiry that is a very civilized and boring system but very highly civiliz civilized system they have in London because they put in the room U like this one and they all ask you question and you have to explain why this is a is a good idea we we were able to explain why I forgot exactly but it it was was it was a very it was a very good the idea is very simple you know we have no one no one car uh parking space here everything happen on the bottom there by public transportation there we have a two tube lines we have six train lines we have 18 bus lines and we only have 43 place for car in all the building and that was a kind of must dictat by Ken Livingston that is the mayor of London that I appreciate very much I think he's a great man is a great mayor it's is called Shard of glass because in fact is actually made of Shard of glass and we are working very much on the on the chemical of those glasses the angle we will build this building by consuming 2/3 of the normal energy that is spend in the tower and the re the way we do that is by working on the on the recuperation of it on from the office to the to the residential part we are working on chem chemicals of the of the glass we by by the way all the top part there all that part is not a cooling tower that's a radiator the idea that a radiator at that height in London you have always 20 20 knots of wind of Breeze and with that breeze there the radiator mean that the air goes through and you cool down the building by that so in some way the environmental thing is not really something added it comes together and this is in New York it's going up now it will be finished about one year bit less this is the newor times it's B made of a of a of a 360,000 L rods of ceramic that will play with again the that will play with the with the skin of the building and the reason is very simple I believe this is one of the most beautiful town in the world because of the capacity to change color with the weather in New York everything become red in the sun evening everything become blue at the end of a shower you know the idea that this building will react with those rods to the to the color of the light and so it will will follow the humor and this and and the atmosphere of of the building now I'm I have to finish this I'm showing this because it's a very funny little job we don't just make big job we also make very little job this is the headquarter of the Italian Challenger for the americ Cup in Valencia it's called lunar Rosa of course you understand I'm a sailor and I love that kind of thing and the funny thing that we made this building by using sales and we actually used the old the sales from lunar Rosa we cut the sales and we put together and we made the building like that this is actually in the place where they do sales and the team doing sales there they're so happy because they are making sale inside the sales you know and it's funny I'm showing this picture that is very little stupid detail to explain that in some way in architecture materials texture Beauty in some way light transparency vibration they come together and sometime beauty comes from Magic comes from that sort of thing you know you may have noticed one thing that this is a work that keep changing quite a lot it's a the each one has a different character not quite but it's different character and that's the reason is very simple because I believe that architecture is a a very complex experience where you are a bit artist you are Builder you are sociologist or you struggle about social issues it's not true that you are bit of this one it's true that you are in the same day you are bit you are you are artist at 9:00 and you are builder at 10:00 then you become activist at 11 back to be artist at 12 it's a kind of continuous movement it's it's complex so in that kind of logic style become style in the sense of recognizable robbert stamp becomes a a golden cage I I'm wored I I like the idea of C because coherence about something more noble but I think I think trapping yourself in the kind of of of LEL is bad you know it must be because I grew up in um I was telling my friend canet before I I grew up in Milan in the 60s and growing up in Milan in the 60s is something because it's not far away from 68 you may remember from May 68 in Paris but that was completely different in 64 I graduated in ' 64 and that year I was sleeping in the school because the school was occupied and you know you you I grew up in that sort of situation where social issue were part of the life and and you know I was trained at that that time to to walk in the city to explore the city to talk to people to listen to people to understand topography to understand geography to study tithes to enjoy music to to to experience a new material to search Freedom if you are try to do that when you are young whyever you should accept the humiliation one day to trap yourself in a style why whyever I you have to accept the freedom as a kind of moral duty so that's the where is and in some way part of this story is the idea of environmental issue it's part of that you know environmental issue are not something that you add like a very interesting little argument it's something that is part of that story it is actually not just about brownfields it's not just about energy it's also about language I'm sure that something is happening in the new architectural language and this is actually feeded is fated by a new Consciousness that that that the the Earth is fragile and cities are vulnerable so that's a kind of ground we have to build up and you have to accept it's not very easy it's a bit is is a is a is a continuous Str but you have to accept that once you have done that once you have built that Solid Ground then you can take off then I think you can take off and you can start to talk about poetry Beauty by the way lightness is part of that story of course lightess and for some reason that I don't understand maybe it's understandable from those picture lightness is a kind of constant struggle for me it's almost like like an obsession is actually more than like is is the idea of fighting against gravity and believe me fighting against gravity as an AR is not easy because gravity is very stubborn natural low but it's is is okay it's a mad idea it's like the Mad idea of changing the world but then what why not so you know some of this work as that kind of thing but it's not like like like a pleasure that is distorted by formal desire is actually coming from the substance from the Solid Ground of this adventure so I stop here thank you very much [Applause] and [Applause] oh
