Blueprints Before High Tide: An Architect Explains The Perfect Sandcastle
Architect Renzo Piano has designed the 87-floor Shard skyscraper in London, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the new home for the Whitney Museum in New York. The Pritzker Prize winner even has a number of ideas for the future of Europe's cities.
But there have been plenty of Piano-planned structures you probably don't know about. And with good reason: They've all washed away.
Piano confessed his lifelong love of sandcastles in The Guardian recently, offering a few choice words of wisdom to follow in constructing your own. In a conversation with NPR's Scott Simon, he explains what drew him to the ephemeral art, what it can teach architects and, of course, a few things to keep in mind while getting started — this one more than most:
"You don't make a sandcastle to fight against anybody," he says. "You just flirt with the waves. That is the reason why you make a sandcastle."
Interview Highlights
On how to build the best sandcastle
First you have to stand on the shoreline. You have to stand on the sand. And you have to watch carefully while the waves come. ...
It's fundamentally about then digging a little ditch, around the little mountain with your lines. Then you open a little door to the waves. And this is where the fun starts, because then the waves come in the ditch.
On the attraction of making them
This is something you do up to when you are a 12-year-old. Then you start again when you are 60. It's true, I did my last one probably one week ago, in Sardinia somewhere, in a little beach — beautiful. And it's something totally useless, of course. You have to understand that; otherwise, it's really frustrating. It's quite nice because it's about capturing a moment when the water comes. And, of course, it's also about the old story of the relationship between manmade and nature. I love nature immensely, but at the end of the day, the architect's job is to compete with nature. It's actually to make buildings. And if you are not clever, things don't stay up.
On what building sandcastles can teach us about designing skyscrapers
For an architect to make something so simple, so easy, so playful, like a sandcastle, it's still about learning. It's about physical law, it's about intuition, it's about forces of nature — it's about understanding, at the end of the day. ...
But making something so useless like a sandcastle teaches you a lot about the responsibility of making something that must remain for centuries. I don't want to become too romantic, but in some ways, that's the whole point. You know, making something that will last half an hour is a kind of interesting opposite. It's a pleasure. It's taking up time, enjoying life.
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Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Renzo Piano is the architect who designed the new Whitney Museum in New York, London's 87-floor shard skyscraper. But a recent article in The Guardian tapped into his wisdom on how to build sandcastles, the best beachfront fort. Renzo Piano joins us now from his studio in Genoa, Italy. Thanks very much for being with us.
RENZO PIANO: Thank you. Hello.
SIMON: So how do you build the best sandcastle?
PIANO: (Laughter) Well, first thing you have to watch carefully where the waves come because this is something very important. You don't make a sandcastle to fight against anybody. You just flirt with the waves. It's fundamentally about then digging a little ditch around the little mountain, and then you open a little door to the waves. And this is where the fun starts.
SIMON: You have four children, I gather. Did you show them how to make sandcastles?
PIANO: Oh yes, yes, yes. But you know, this is something you do up to when you are 12 years old. Then you stop. Then you start again when you are 60.
SIMON: (Laughter).
PIANO: It's true. It's true. I did my last one probably one week ago in Sardinia somewhere in a little beach - beautiful. And it's something totally useless, of course. You have to understand that so - otherwise you're really frustrating. But it's quite nice because it's about capturing a moment when the water comes. And of course it's also about the old story of relationships between handmade and nature. I love nature immensely, but at the end of the day, the architect's job is to compete with nature. It's actually to make building. And if you are not clever, things don't stay up.
SIMON: Well, I have to ask then, is there anything that you can learn out of building a sandcastle that you carry over into building 87-floor skyscrapers?
PIANO: (Laughter) I'm pretty sure, yes. For an architect to make something so easy, so playful like a sandcastle, it's about physical law. It's about intuition. It's about understanding, at the end of the day. So I guess, yes, you learn. But making something so useless, like the sandcastle, is - it teach you a lot about the responsibility of making something that must remain for centuries. I don't want become too romantic, but in some ways that's the real point. You know, making something that will only last half an hour is kind of interesting opposite.
SIMON: A change of pace for you, I guess.
PIANO: Yeah. Yeah, it's a pleasure. It's taking up time and enjoying life.
SIMON: Renzo Piano speaking with us from his architectural studio in Genoa, Italy. Thanks so much for being with us.
PIANO: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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