Renzo Piano is again in architectural relationship with Louis Kahn. Early in his career, Piano worked briefly with the Louis I. Kahn office. This time, his architecture is separate but complementary.

Set to open on November 27th, the Renzo Piano Pavilion at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX will expand the exhibition space of the historic 1972 Louis Kahn-designed museum, creating an art complex on the site. A new video preview of the building has been released, in which Kimbell Director Eric Lee explores the exterior features and promotes excitement for its opening.

Piano’s design plays with light and lightness in the same materials used by Kahn: light-colored concrete, glass, and wood. It adds an underground auditorium, three additional galleries, and a education center to the Kimbell, while using half the amount of energy required by the Kahn Building. Distinct yet in constant dialogue, Piano himself pronounced that the buildings of the Kimbell Art Museum are “close enough for a conversation, not too close and not too far away.”

[h/t Lee Rosembaum / CultureGrrl ]