Opening for Renzo Piano's Controversial Expansion at Ronchamp Chapel
21/09/2011.
by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. [Ronchamp] France
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
metalocus, INÉS LALUETA
Renzo Piano has designed the expansion in collaboration with the French landscape architect Michel Corajoud. It is just part of gardening that Renzo Piano at the opening warned that the work was not completely finished, "50 percent failure." By May 2012, the landscaping—designed by Michel Corajoud—should be finished, and visitors will be able to see the full intention of Piano’s design.
The project of euros 14 millon, was commissioned by the Association Oeuvre Notre Dame du Haut, the same organization that hired Corbusier to design the chapel, completed in 1954. So as not to detract from Corbusier’s building, Piano inserted the visitors’ center and convent into the side of a grassy slope leading up to chapel. The convent includes residences for 12 Poor Clare nuns and a small oratory.
The removal of the old visitor center (an unfortunate intervention), integration into the natural environment, as well as the choice of materials (concrete, zinc and wood) are designed to provide unity to the whole.
Sketch of project © RPBW
Opponents petitioned the Minister of Culture of France to support the original bill and against the proposed reform. Among them were important architecture figures, such as Rafael Moneo, Richard Meier and Cesar Pelli, among others. There was also a petition supporting the project with Massimiliano Fuksas, David Adjaye, Tadao Ando, John Pawson, and more.
Piano is no stranger to this controversy and understands the position of critics of the project. "I love Le Corbusier building," he says. "For me, it's a masterpiece. Became one of the world's most beautiful places for meditation. If a different architect had been hired for this job", he said," probably would be worried, so I can understand."
Renzo Piano was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1937 to a family of builders. He graduated Milan Polytechnic in 1964 and began to work with experimental light-weight structures and basic shelters. In 1971, he founded the Piano & Rogers studio and, together with Richard Rogers, won the competition for the Centre Pompidou in Paris. From the early 1970s to the 1990s, Piano collaborated with engineer Peter Rice, founding Atelier Piano & Rice in 1977. In 1981, he established the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, with offices today in Genoa, Paris and New York. Renzo Piano has been awarded the highest honors in architecture, including; the Pritzker Prize; RIBA Royal Gold Medal; Medaille d’Or, UIA; Erasmus Prize; and most recently, the Gold Medal of the AIA.