In a lecture at the addition's opening celebration, however, Piano paused to dispel the idea of his firm, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, as museum specialist. RPBW has built everything — football stadiums, shopping centers, exhibition halls, factories, banks, airports, train stations, symphony halls, houses, and even yachts.

As he nears age 70, Piano understands the contradictions that are the lure of city life, "the interaction between public and private spaces." He demonstrates the contrast at the High Museum with a temple of quiet and north light in the upper galleries, balanced by the rush and chatter of the cocktail crowd below in a modest piazza that is the heart of the new museum campus.   >>>