Renzo Piano was born on 14 September 1937 in Genoa (Italy) to a family of architects. He studied in Florence and Milan where he qualified in the Architecture department of the École Polytechnique in 1964. He first worked with this father and then under the supervision of Franco Albini.

From 1965 to 1970, he worked with Louis Kahn, in Philadelphia, and with Z.S. Makowsky, in London. It was at this time that he met with Jean Prouvé, whose friendship was to influence his work considerably.

From 1971, he worked with Richard Rogers (Piano & Rogers), and from 1977, with Peter Rice (Piano & Rice), who he remained with until his death in 1992.

Renzo piano now manages architect's offices in Genoa, Paris, where he lives, and Berlin under the name of Renzo Piano Building Workshop, a group that unites about one hundred collaborators, architects, engineers and various specialists.

His work earned him the Pritzker Price in 1998 and the Venice Golden Lion (for his whole career) in 2000.