Renzo Piano was born in Genoa on September 14, 1937. Graduated from the school of Architecture, Milan Polytechnic in 1964. While studying, he worked under the design guidance of Franco Albini. Between 1965 and 1970 he worked with Louis I. Kahn, in Philadelphia, and Z.S. Makowsky in London. During this period he became friend with Jean Prouvé, who had a profound influence on his work. Renzo Piano collaborated with Richard Rogers and Peter Rice. He currently has offices in Genoa and in Paris under the name Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Piano has received numerous awards and prizes, including the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture (1995), the Pritzker Architecture Prize (1998), and the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal (2008).