The difference between a builder and an architect is that an architect also cares about desire, about dreams.
Renzo PianoRead
I came to architecture from building. Because my father was a builder, everybody was - and is - a builder in my family.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the deep connection between personal background and professional pursuits in architecture.
Renzo Piano emphasizes the influence of his family's legacy of building on his own career in architecture. It highlights how familial roots and experiences shape one's identity and professional choices, suggesting that architecture is not just a profession but a continuation of a familial tradition of craftsmanship and creativity.
In practice
In a speech about the importance of architecture in society, one could use this quote to highlight how personal background influences creativity.
The difference between a builder and an architect is that an architect also cares about desire, about dreams.
You have to accept as an architect to be exposed to criticism. Architecture should not rely on full harmony.
I don't like the idea that the first preparation when you start to design your building has to put your label. I think this is not fair. It's not fair to the building or to the people, to the client, because every building tells a different story.
There is something about giving everything to your profession. In Italian, an obsession is not necessarily negative. It's the art of putting all your energy into one thing; it's the art of transforming even what you eat for lunch into architecture.
When you design a building, you start from a general philosophy, and you come down, and you start from detail and come up. Only the theoretical architect believes that you can make the concept and then sometime, somebody will come to build it.
In architecture you should live for 150 years, because you have to learn in the first 75 years.
There may be stranger reasons for being alive. There are books Thereβs interlibrary loan. There are books you can fall into and pull up over your head.
My imagination is a kind of animal. So what I do is keep it alive.
A writer wants something more than money for his work: he wants permanence.
Happy are the painters, for they shall not be lonely.
'Vogue' and 'Vice' may appear to some to see the world through different lenses. But in my view, both are fearless and breathtaking, with unquenchable curiosity and vigor.
And in a picture I want to say something comforting, as music is comforting.
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