Carlo Piano and his father Renzo embark on a journey on a boat belonging to the Italian Navy that is going around the world to update nautical maps. This expedition starts in Genoa and proceeds as a huge visit to most of Renzo Piano’s creations… a description of the Kansai airport, which was constructed on an artificial island outside of Osaka, the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre in Nouméa, the California Academy of Science in San Francisco. Nearer to us… the Shard in London, the Centre George Pompidou in Paris, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, the Fondation Beyeler in Basel, the Agnelli art museum atop the Lingotto Factory in Turin. The book is a dialogue between father and son, the travel being an excuse to talk about all the architectural beauties created by Renzo Piano, how he imagines them and integrates them into the geography of the place and the character of the people that will use the building. A beautiful book, intimate, tender, touching about an incredible architect.
“There must be something in the chemical makeup of salt that chases off happy thoughts. Some people claim that the sea is the dwelling place of what we have lost, what we had wished for, our broken dreams, grief, and spilt tears.”
Original title : Atlantide. Viaggio alla ricerca della bellezza
Translated from Italian