A conversation with Antoine Chaaya and Joost Moolhuijzen. "PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE"

Itinerant Office presented this week the tenth chapter of the second season of "PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE: about being an architect yesterday, today and beyond". During the 1th, 3th and 4th of July each of the 3 interviews with Antoine Chaaya and Joost Moolhuijzen, partners at Renzo Piano Building Workshop.

Columbia University by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

On this occasion, Gianpiero Venturini interviewed the architects Antoine Chaaya and Joost Moolhuijzen, in order to learn more about their careers and to know their opinion of the profession they practice. In addition, they end the interview with a council to inspire new generations of architects.

PAST tell us about their beginnings in the world of architecture and what led them to study this profession. Antoine and Joost also question why they have become among the most internationally recognized companies.

GIANPIERO VENTURINI: What was the identity of the office when you arrived in 1987 How was it like working here?

ANTOINE CHAAYA: “In the beginning, when I arrived to the office in 1987, we were close by, it was at the Croix de la Bretonnerie - the second street perpendicular to Rue des Archives. The office was very small, we were something like 12 or 13 people.(...) At the beginning, it was very, very small so working with these people, it was like working with family. Renzo is still close to people but at that time he was very, very close. And for me, meeting him the first time and having the opportunity to talk to him was like a dream - sitting beside you, talking, and listening to what you say. He knows how to listen, he knows how to give confidence to young people.”

GV: And any interesting anecdotes that represent the first part of your career?

JOOST MOOLHUIJZEN: "Our office before was at Rue Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie and then we moved to this place but it was not ready at all. It was still a work in progress and it was all dark and we had woodmakers here. It was a terrible working environment, but it didn’t matter, we were just enjoying work. So I think it’s a good message that it doesn’t really matter, the beginning when you start a practice or when things are moving or what the working environment actually is, as long as you do nice projects and you have nice people to work with, then it’s fine. Obviously, it can’t stay like that because that’d be terrible. But it doesn’t matter at the beginning as long as you have great projects.”

PRESENT helps us understand how your study works and how it has grown over time. With this interview we obtain an overview of the practice of their careers and we can understand the reasons for their success.

GV: In my opinion, today, architects of any generation - from the youngest to the more experienced - are not perceived as close to the people and not good at communicating to the rest of the world what architects do. What do you think about this issue?

AC: “It has been said that “Architecture is also the art of telling stories”. If I’m not wrong, it was Louis Kahn who said if he were not an architect, he would love to be able to tell stories to kids, something like that. So communicating - explaining what we are doing - is very, very important. What is also important is the simplicity of the idea. Someone said that if you are not able to explain your idea to 5-year-old kids, that means your idea is not ready yet, it’s not clear. Architecture, is a lot, a lot of things, it’s an intertwining of culture, of art, of science, of anthropology, of communication. And we should not be very, very intellectual in explaining architecture. Architecture is supposed to respond to a very direct need, I deeply believe that architecture is for doing useful things, not only to create form.”

GV: How would you describe the internal organisation of the office?

JM: “One characteristic of this office is that we want teams to follow projects from A to Z as much as possible because we believe if you know the project, if you know the beginning of the project, you take the project all the way through to completion, it’s a very interesting and important process, both for the architects working on it and good also for the client and also the coherence of the design. Through that, the concept really goes from A to Z into the finest details.”

FUTURE seeks to discuss issues of today and tomorrow. Architects try a series of key concepts that represent their approach, while trying to anticipate the future trends of architecture.

GV: What do you think will be the future of architecture? Are there any key terms or concepts?

AC: “I think one of the big challenges of this century is really the fragility of our earth, our environment, the sustainability of our actions. So I’m expecting architects to be more sensitive with regard to how we are designing buildings - to be really sustainable, respecting the environment, working more with the sun, the light, the wind, creating green area and continue humanising the space. I’m not expecting a revolution in the sense that we have to build only on water, I’m not expecting that. I mean in future we have some urgent needs to deal with, also some human needs. Our needs are evolving, our research and the way we express architecture is also evolving. So no doubt, at the end, the result of the change will affect architecture. But I think architecture will stay the art of building.”

GV: What message would you send to the new generations of architects?

JM: “It’s hard work, but it’s a fantastic profession. So they should persevere and just keep going. Yes, it’s hard work, but the rewards are there, so I would encourage them to keep going.”

PAST

PRESENT

FUTURE

Rendering. Beirut History Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Section. Beirut History Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Model. Beirut History Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Sketch. Beirut History Museum by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Section. Columbia University by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Sketch. Columbia University by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Sketch. Fubon Tower by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Rendering. Fubon Tower by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Photograph by Michel Denancé. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Center by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Kansai International Airport by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Photograph by Dennis Gilbert. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Kansai International Airport by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Section. Kansai International Airport by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Section. Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Rendering by IDA+. Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Sketch. Paddington Square by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

RPBW Paris Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

RPBW Paris Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office. Photograph by Daniele De Carolis.

RPBW Paris Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg.

RPBW New York Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office. Photograph by Kendall Doerr.

RPBW Punta Nave Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

RPBW Punta Nave Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office. Photograph by Fregoso & Basalto.

RPBW Punta Nave Office. Courtesy by Itinerant Office. Photograph by Shunji Ishida.

Rendering. SGBL Headquarters by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Antoine Chaaya in his early years, taken at Richard Rogers’ office in London, 1989. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Renzo Piano and Joost Moolhuijzen working on a project in Monaco. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Portrait of Antoine Chaaya. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Antoine Chaaya's team working on SAIFI project. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Portrait of Joost Moolhuijzen. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Joost Moolhuijzen's Team working on Fubon Tower project. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

Joost Moolhuijzen. Photograph by Stefano Goldberg. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

The Menil Collection. Photograph by Paul Hester. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

The Menil Collection. Photograph by Hickey and Robertson Photography. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

The Menil Collection. Photograph by Shunji Ishida. Courtesy by Itinerant Office.

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More information

Renzo Piano Building Workshop. RPBW

The Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) was established in 1981 by Renzo Piano with offices in Genoa, Italy and Paris, France. The practice has since expanded and now also operates from New York.

RPBW is led by 10 partners, including founder and Pritzker Prize laureate, architect Renzo Piano.

The practice permanently employs about 130 architects together with a further 30 support staff including 3D visualization artists, model makers, archivers, administrative and secretarial staff.

Their staff has a wide experience of working in multi-disciplinary teams on building projects in France, Italy and abroad.

As architects, they are involved in the projects from start to finish. They usually provide full architectural design services and consultancy services during the construction phase. Their design skills extend beyond mere architectural services. Their work also includes interior design services, town planning and urban design services, landscape design services and exhibition design services.

RPBW has successfully undertaken and completed over 140 projects around the world.

Currently, among the main projects in progress are: the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles; the École normale supérieure Paris-Saclay; the Paddington Square in London and; the Toronto Courthouse.

Major projects already completed include: the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas; the Kanak Cultural Center in Nouméa, New Caledonia; the Kansaï International Airport Terminal Building in Osaka; the Beyeler Foundation Museum in Basel; the reconstruction of the Potsdamer Platz area in Berlin; the Rome Auditorium; the New York Times Building in New York; the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco; the Chicago Art Institute expansion in Chicago, Illinois; The Shard in London; Columbia University’s Manhattanville development project in New York City; the Harvard museums in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the Intesa Sanpaolo office building in Turin, Italy; the Kimbell Art Museum expansion in Texas; the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; the Valletta City Gate in Malta; the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens; the Centro Botín in Santander; the New Paris Courthouse and others throughout the world.

Exhibitions of Renzo Piano and RPBW’s works have been held in many cities worldwide, including at the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 2018.

Published on: July 4, 2019

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