Minimal

Renzo Piano

I’ll admit it: I don’t know much about architecture. Yes, I’m often fascinated by the beauty and scale of it, especially modern stuff, but I’ve never gone out of my way to study it. Every now and then, however, something crops up in the news that makes me sit up, pay attention, and — for a short while, at least — dig deeper.

A few weeks back, Channel 4 News had a piece on it about Renzo Piano, an architect who, I’ve since discovered, has quite an impressive portfolio. His previous work includes a wide range of modern buildings, from the Pompidou Centre in Paris to the San Nicola stadium in Bari, and Kansai International Airport in Osaka to Ferrari’s high-tech wind tunnel at Maranello. All very impressive, all very modern. The building on which Channel 4 were reporting, however, was a new church nearing completion in Italy.

When we think of great architecture and churches, we tend to look to centuries past — times when you could get the money and labour for such monumental buildings as Durham Cathedral and countless other marvels around the country and, indeed, the world. To see a modern church being built that’s every bit as spectacular, and yet very definitely modern, is therefore quite a surprise. The Basilica of San Giovanni Rotondo, near Foggia in Italy is nothing short of stunning. I just wish there were a few more pictures of it on the web. :/