PIANO LESSONS - Renzo Piano and the Art of Building Workshop
Piano Lessons, the series in episodes, born from an idea by Renzo Piano, story by Francesca Molteni, directed by Davide Fois and produced by Muse Factory of Projects, with the Renzo Piano Foundation and the collaboration of the Polytechnic University of Milan, previewed on Rai5, every Sunday for 6 weeks, and then on Raiplay.
Renzo Piano as professor, 24 students from the Polytechnic University of Milan, 11 professors as tutors, and exceptional guests. The "Art of Building Workshop" is a six-month course in which the Architect discusses with young people some famous projects of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop to propose updates and improvements. Six groups of students, six projects, six episodes of "PIANO LESSONS": the Emergency Pediatric Surgery Center (2021) in Entebbe, Uganda; Kansai International Airport (1994), Japan; the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center (1998), in Nouméa, New Caledonia; the new Whitney Museum (2015) in New York; the Beyeler Foundation (1997), in Riehen, Basel; the New York Times Building (2007).
The guests who will speak to share their experiences in dialogue with Renzo Piano and the students are: Fabiola Gianotti, physicist and general director of CERN in Geneva, John Elkann, entrepreneur, Gianni Berengo Gardin, photographer and photojournalist, Michele Serra, journalist and writer.
The lessons take place in a multidisciplinary teaching space, the headquarters of the Renzo Piano Foundation at the Politecnico di Milano, in the Edificio14 “La Nave”, in the heart of the Leonardo campus. The Course is structured to offer a training path through the practical experience and testimonies of Renzo Piano and the architects of the Renzo Piano Building Workshop who participated in the realization of the various projects. The students are supported by expert teaching tutors from various disciplines, who guide them in the research and realization of the projects.
Each episode, lasting 25 minutes, has its own narrative structure, which can also be used independently from the entire series. The common thread is the development of the projects during the lessons at the Polytechnic, from the choice to the day of the exam, with interviews with Renzo Piano, the architects of the RPBW and the students, the revisions, the visit to the Renzo Piano Foundation in Genoa.
The LEZIONI DI PIANO project was created on the occasion of the Course "Laboratorio Arte del Costruire" by Professor Renzo Piano, School of Architecture Urban Planning Construction Engineering, Polytechnic of Milan, academic year 2023/2024.