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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.
Renzo Piano
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Buildings have unique stories and should not be confined to a single label or identity.

Renzo Piano expresses a sentiment that every building is distinctive and has its own narrative, which should not be limited or defined by a singular label or expectation. He argues that this labeling is unfair both to the architectural design and to the individuals who interact with it, as it reduces the potential richness of a building's story and significance.

Themes

ArchitectureStoryDesignFairnessIdentityBuilding

In practice

Example use cases

In a speech about architectural identity, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding a building's individual story.

More from Renzo Piano

The difference between a builder and an architect is that an architect also cares about desire, about dreams.
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You have to accept as an architect to be exposed to criticism. Architecture should not rely on full harmony.
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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.
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I came to architecture from building. Because my father was a builder, everybody was - and is - a builder in my family.
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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.
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In architecture you should live for 150 years, because you have to learn in the first 75 years.
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