Renzo Piano

“One of the great beauties of architecture is that each time, it is like life starting all over again.”

“Architecture is art, but art vastly contaminated by many other things. Contaminated in the best sense of the word—fed, fertilized by many things.”

“Cities are beautiful because they are created slowly; they are made by time.”

“Light is one of the most important 'materials' in architecture.”

“I believe that architecture is a civic service.”

“A museum is a place where one should lose one's head.”

“You have to accept the idea of imperfection. That is the secret of life.”

“An architect is a person who builds. A poet is a person who builds. A city is a thing that is built.”

“Drawing is a way of reasoning on paper.”

“A building is not just a place to be, but a way to be.”

“The architect's role is to fight for a better world, where he can produce buildings that are sensitive to the world around them.”

“The duty of the architect is to give a soul to the city.”

“Architecture is a very dangerous job. If you are not good, you can ruin a city for a long time.”

“The role of the architect is also to create desire, to create dreams.”

“I think that curiosity is a very important quality for an architect.”

“Technology is like a hammer. You can use it to build, but you can also use it to destroy.”

“You have to be a bit of a poet and a bit of a builder. And you have to be a bit of a humanist. It's a very complete profession.”

“Good design is about making other designers feel like idiots because that idea wasn’t theirs.”

“A public space is a place for social interaction, for people to meet and to exchange ideas.”