punta nave by ranzo piano I office in slope

Piano started his career as a rebel against the architectural establishment with the Pompidou Centre. But my interest in Renzo began at the office in Genova, the building workshop. The studio and its glass funicular embodies so many of the characteristics of the work, philosophy and the processes that I found inside.
The studio and its glass funicular embodies so many of the characteristics of the work, philosophy and the processes that I found inside. It leads me to ask the following questions: Is the studio itself a metaphor for the work of RPBW? And ultimately, what is the relation between the place of work and the work produced? These are questions I continually asked myself during the short time at the building workshop. The glass funicular Like everyone who visits or works in the building workshop, their first interaction is the transparent all-glass funicular that rises some 70 meters from the sea. It is a journey that lasts two minutes and thirty three seconds and it is the only way to reach the office (other than the 400 steps that run alongside). During the construction of the building workshop the fimicular was critical to transporting building materials up and down to the worksite. Back then, it was a simple platform. The final form is only a little different,
The roof is comprised of a frame of laminated wood insulated with plastic frames and thin membranes, which have been selected for their ability to insulate against the heat and filter the light. The entire structure is supported by thin steel uprights, with steel connecting elements. A series of photocells are used to detect the external weather conditions and automatically adjust a motor-powered system of slats in order to protect the roof against the elements and to regulate the amount of sunlight entering the building itself. The lights, which are oriented towards reflective screens on the ceiling, turn on at dusk. In this manner, even the artificial lighting comes from above.

The walls are made of non-framed glass panels, which are only fastened together using thin strips of the same material. With its terraces, traditional materials and multi-level layout, the project evokes the history of its location, but at the same time represents a modern structure for the activities that are carried out within. The work areas follow the line of the slope and are arranged on various levels: in addition to creating a sequence of spaces, this solution also allows the view of the surrounding landscape and seaside to be enjoyed from every level. The space has no intrinsic hierarchy or barriers: the studio’s architects, clients, students and technical staff are all brought together under the same sloping roof, and are visible to one another from each of the building’s various levels.
The greenery is one of the space’s essential components. The shape of the place itself is derived from the needs of the crops, and the local vegetation, along with the terraces, provide the place with its distinctive form. The plants that surround and penetrate the building are well-rooted in the work areas and are clearly visible through the glass walls
It invites calm, silence, concentration and creativity. It is not, however, a hermitage: people of all different nationalities work there, and the door is always open to colleagues. Punta Nave is in perfect harmony with its surroundings.
The workshop’s gradually sloping terraces, which open onto the sea, are built in glass and made to be exact replicas of the traditional greenhouses found on the Ligurian coast. Lying between the mountain and the Mediterranean Sea, Punta Nave stands as a homage we wished to give to the sea. The workshop is an immense greenhouse overtaken inside and out by all types of plants and greenery, creating the feeling of a privileged communion with nature.