Piano, Renzo (1937– )

Italian high-tech architect. With Richard Rogers, he designed the Pompidou Centre, Paris, France (1970–77). Among his other buildings are Kansai Airport, Osaka, Japan (1988–94) and a sports stadium in Bari, Italy (1989), both employing new materials and making imaginative use of civil engineering techniques. He won the Pritzker Prize in 1998 and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 2008.

His Parco della Musica (2002) in Rome, Italy, is the largest concert hall complex in Europe. Other important projects include the Potsdamer Platz reconstruction in Berlin, Germany (1996–2000), the Auditorium Paganini in Parma, Italy (2001), and the New York Times Building in New York (2008).