November 26, 2009 at 8:58 am

Serenity Now: The Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Punta Nave

by twistedsifter

Feeling more like a secluded retreat than an office building, the Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Punta Nave radiates with tranquility. Perched on a steep slope above the sea, Punta Nave houses the Italian headquarters of world-renowned architect, Renzo Piano (*awesome name alert*). Composed of a system of glass terraces gradually sloping towards the sea, the building recalls the shapes of the greenhouses typical of the Ligurian coastline. Here, natural light plays a major role on the interior space within. Based solely on the pictures below, the Workshop in Punta Nave just exudes a calm and peaceful environment I would love to work in! Absolutely serene.

Built in 1989 toward the western edge of Genoa, the site has been purposely isolated like a desert island. 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.

In the same spirit, we sought to take maximum advantage of the zenithal light that pervades every aspect of life here and has rapidly become our natural clock. While Punta Nave is a refuge deliberately away from the center, it can nevertheless communicate in real time with the rest of the world thanks to new technology. It is therefore not really the opposite of the city; it is what we prefer to call a post-urban research center.