Entrusting the creation of a museum to ‘starchitects’ can, in fact, prove a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the buildings they create are undeniably striking and attract residents and tourists; on the other hand, however, they sometimes appear too self-referential, an end in themselves and disrespectful of the museum collections they must contain, thus betraying the very essence of the museum, a place where the objects of the past are given meaning and connected with the present.
The energy consumption and maintenance costs of these places are, moreover, most of the time exorbitant. Choosing ‘starchitects’ to create museums is, therefore, a risk, since they often design without regard for the context, the collections and the impact on the environment.
Few manage to take a step back and design starting not from an architectural idea that is an end in itself, but from what the museum must contain and from the needs of the public. Among them, a place of honour belongs to Renzo Piano, who has been able to combine his distinctive architectural language with respect for the collections, with an eye also to environmental sustainability.
His first museum after the Pompidou already shows this tendency: it is the Menil Collection in Houston, in the United States, where the works are arranged in a measured space that alludes to industrial architecture, with great attention to the natural light that filters through large louvres set in the ceiling and floods the space, allowing optimal viewing of the paintings and a considerable saving of electricity.
Piano’s intelligent, environmentally conscious design can also be found in the Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland, whose building blends very naturally into the surrounding countryside, thanks to its large windows and a pool of water that creates a feeling of peace and tranquillity.
Here Piano experiments with what he himself would later call the ‘flying carpet’, that is, a high-tech roof of panels with photoelectric cells, able to open and close according to the weather conditions, and thus to let into the museum the right amount of light to admire the works, without wasting energy. Once again the focus is on viewing the collection in the best possible conditions and on environmental sustainability.
The same caution in fitting into a pre-existing context without distorting it is applied by Piano also in the MUSE (Museo delle Scienze) in Trento and in the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo. In both buildings, in fact, the ‘flying carpet’ folds into a profile that dialogues with the orography of the surrounding places: in the first case, recalling the peaks of the Alps; in the second, blending naturally into the fjord.
Piano’s use of eco-friendly materials and innovative technologies to reduce environmental impact has earned important recognition. His California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, for example, was the first museum in the world to obtain LEED Platinum certification for sustainable building. Its structure has a green roof, which helps regulate the internal temperature, solar panels and a rainwater collector for irrigation.
His museums are, moreover, always designed to maximise natural lighting and reduce dependence on electric light, also using low-energy heating and cooling systems and integrating photovoltaic and geothermal systems to harness clean energy. Finally, Piano does not just conceive buildings that are ‘green’ from a technological point of view, but also places that contribute to the sustainable development of the cities in which they stand, stimulating the local economy and promoting the conservation and enhancement of the artistic heritage.
Ultimately, Renzo Piano is an architect who has been able to combine ‘green’ design with the beauty and functionality of his museums. His attention to the environment, energy efficiency and social integration shows how architecture can be a tool for sustainability and for creating spaces that have a positive impact on society. The great worth of our fellow citizen was, moreover, also recognised by President Giorgio Napolitano, who appointed him senator for life of the Italian Republic in 2013.
