Matteo and Renzo Piano

Olivari Designers

Genoa, 1968 | Genova, 1937

Two generations that dialogue and confront each other with the patience required to tackle research and the timescales of the project, with the curiosity of those who know how to grasp from the most diverse disciplines the inspirations and challenges useful for creating new ideas and solutions. On the one side Renzo Piano, founder of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop Studio, on the other Matteo Piano, who started his career as a designer in the mid-1990s with Piano Design Studio, bringing with him the project approach he breathed in his father’s studio, with whom he has collaborated on several projects, beginning with the redevelopment of the Lingotto factory in Turin.

— The Shard, London Bridge Tower, London, 2000-2012 (Ph. William Matthews)

— Matteo and Renzo Piano

Both in their independent projects and the four-handed ones, one can recognize the language born from laboratory experimentation, research into production processes and materials, attention to detail and functionality.

— The Art Institute of Chicago, The Modern Wing, Chicago, 2000-2009 (Ph. Nic Lehoux)

— Istanbul Modern, Istanbul, 2016-2023 (Ph. Enrico Cano)

— Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Punta Nave Office, Genoa, 1986-1991 (Ph. Shunji Ishida)

Whether it is furniture or even simply a handle, the shape, while speaking the clear and confident language of function, is capable of adapting to any context, because the design composition stems from a special sensitivity towards the spaces of Architecture.

— Jérôme Seydoux, Pathé Foundation, Paris, 2006-2014 (Ph. Michel Denancé)

— The Whitney Museum of American Art at Gansevoort, New York, 2007-2015 (Ph. Nic Lehoux)