Editing Renzo Piano (section)

===Centre Pompidou (1973–1977)===
In 1971 the thirty-four-year old Piano and [[Richard Rogers]], thirty-eight, in collaboration with the Italian architect [[Gianfranco Franchini]], competed with the major architectural firms in the United States and Europe, and were awarded the commission for the most prestigious project in Paris, the new French national museum of 20th century art to be located in [[Beaubourg]]. The award came a surprise, to the architectural world, since the two were little-known, and had no experience with museums or other major structures. ''The New York Times'' declared that their design "turned the architecture world upside down".<ref>{{cite web |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/28/arts/design/28cnd-pritzker.html |title=British Architect Wins 2007 Pritzker Prize |work=The New York Times |date=28 March 2007 |access-date=3 May 2011}}</ref> More literally it turned architecture inside-out, since in the new museum, the apparent structural frame of the building and the heating and air conditioning ducts were on the exterior, painted in bright colors. The escalator, in a transparent tube, crossed the facade of the building at a diagonal. The building was an astonishing success, entirely transforming the character of a run-down commercial section near the Marais in Paris, and made Piano one of the best-known architects in the world.{{Sfn|Jodidio|2016|page=23}}

The media dubbed the style of the building as "high-tech", but this was later disputed by Piano. "Beaubourg," he said, "was a joyous urban machine, a creature which might have come out of a Jules Verne novel, a sort of bizarre boat in dry dock... It is a double provocation; a challenge to academism, but also a parody of the imagery of technology of our time. To consider it as a high-tech object is a mistake."{{Sfn|Jodidio|2016|page=12}}