Renzo Piano: Zentrum Paul Klee, Bern, The Architecture

The prominent Genovese architect Renzo Piano--recipient of the 1998 Pritzker Award and architect of the Whitney Museum of American Art and Morgan Library renovations, as well as the new New York Times building--has just completed a new and unusual museum building--the Zentrum Paul Klee on the outskirts of Bern. The center, says Piano, is dedicated to the "poet of silence," and thus it was fitting to consider building a museum that would speak softly. The Zentrum Paul Klee rises upward in the form of three hills connected by a 150-meter-long thoroughfare, the "Museum Street" serving as a path within the complex. The three structures make up a harmonious yet prominent landscape sculpture whose roofs are supported by innovative steel construction. Includes photographs, design sketches, plans and models--a living image of a magnificent building.