According to Shinto tradition, every twenty years the Japanese temple of Ise is demolished and rebuilt on adjacent land.

The reconstruction work represents an important moment of exchange between three generations: those in their sixties pass on their knowledge, those in their forties build the new temple to the highest standards, and those in their twenties observe and learn the craft of construction.

Participating in one of these ceremonies in the fall of 1996 led Renzo Piano to wonder about the best way to pass on his professional experience to the younger generations.

This was the spark that led to the creation of the Renzo Piano Foundation, a non-profit institution that since 2004 has been dedicated to promoting the profession of architecture by pursuing three objectives: preserving and enhancing the archive, training new generations, and disseminating architecture as a technique and art of building.