Renzo Piano Quotes & Sayings (Page 2)

“As an architect, you have to provide a shelter to enjoy art. And you have to love art. It's like when you make a concert hall. You must love music. This is the reason why you make the space, to enjoy music - making a space for art is the same thing.”

“The day I went to see my father to say I wanted to become an architect, he was a bit surprised, because for him being a builder is much more than being just an architect. He was very angry, and I never thought I could do something else.”

“I don't like the idea that the first preparation when you start to design your building has to put your label. I think this is not fair. It's not fair to the building or to the people, to the client, because every building tells a different story.”

“The difference between a builder and an architect is that an architect also cares about desire, about dreams.”

“In architecture you should live for 150 years, because you have to learn in the first 75 years.”

“When you design a building, you start from a general philosophy, and you come down, and you start from detail and come up. Only the theoretical architect believes that you can make the concept and then sometime, somebody will come to build it.”

“I think people should try to teach young children that these qualities - stubbornness and a capacity to listen - might look like they are opposites, but they are not.”

“When I was a student in the '60s, I dreamt of making a house 7 feet by 7 feet, as a dream of freedom, of self-moderation.”

“You have to accept as an architect to be exposed to criticism. Architecture should not rely on full harmony.”

“In some way, people believe that if you are permeable, if you are a good listener, you don't have the quality of somebody with a firm attitude. This is what, fundamentally, I got from my mother.”