PIANO

u003cpu003eWhile some architects have a signature style, Renzo Piano seeks to apply coherent ideas to extraordinarily different projects. His buildings impress as much for their individual impact as for their diversity of scale, material, and form.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003ePiano rose to international prominence with his codesign of the Pompidou Center in Paris, described by The New York Times as a building that "turned the architecture world upside down." Since then, he has continued to craft many high-profile cultural spaces, including the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Morgan Library Renovation and Expansion in New York; and, most recently, the Whitney Museum of American Art, an asymmetric nine-story structure in Manhattan's Meatpacking District with both indoor and outdoor galleries. In New York and London, the Renzo touch has also transformed the skyline with the towers of the New York Times Building and the Shard, the tallest building in the European Union.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eThis essential introduction travels from Osaka, Japan, to Bern, Switzerland, and through many cities, structures, and islands in between, to explore the staggering scope of the Renzo Piano repertoire. From the "inside-out" Pompidou to the airy shells of the Tjibaou Cultural Center in Nouméa, New Caledonia, this is a thrilling journey through the beauty of architecture, where, in Piano's own words, "each time, it is like life starting all over again."u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eu003c/pu003eu003cpu003eAbout the seriesu003c/pu003eu003cpu003eBorn back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture series features: u003c/pu003eu003cpu003ean introduction to the life and work of the architectu003c/pu003eu003cpu003ethe major works in chronological orderu003c/pu003eu003cpu003einformation about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutionsu003c/pu003eu003cpu003ea list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildingsu003c/pu003eu003cpu003eapproximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)u003c/pu003e