Design

How Renzo Piano Builds Cities

The 79-year-old architect discusses how openness in architecture makes for safer, happier places.
A rendering of Piano's Palais de Justice on the northeast edge of Paris, set to open this year. The architect says that architecture can "fertilize" struggling urban peripheries.RPBW

For Renzo Piano, every building should tell a story.

The 79-year-old architect is as busy as ever with a workload that spans from Los Angeles to Uganda. With no signs of fatigue in a nearly 50-year career, Piano doesn’t struggle to find meaning in each new project. “I’ve wanted to make buildings since I was a kid,” says the Italian-born architect, who fondly recalls spending time at construction sites with his dad.