Hospital infantil, 2014-2024, Bolonia (Italia)

At the venerable age of masters, Renzo Piano continues to sail over the waves of a success that has hardly any equal in the history of contemporary architecture, both in the last century and this one, once again proving Picasso’s paradox true: “It takes a long time to be young.” Young – almost a child, we could say – he has become, for example, in one of his latest works, perhaps the most deferential and difficult at the same time: the Children’s Hospice designed for the Fondazione Seràgnoli on the hills outside of Bologna, a structure of moving beauty that is a song in the face of the drama of suffering and death. The challenge was considerable: designing temporary accommodation to improve the quality of life of children with terminal illnesses and in some way alleviate the pain of their families... [+]