Renzo Piano exhibition, Royal Academy ★★★★★

How often do you think about the fabric of our city? In the frenzy of our modern lives, we often forget to stop, and just look up. Buildings are not just somewhere to live and work, though. They are bound up with society, technology, politics, ideals, utopias and the power of humanity to transform landscape – for better or for worse. 'Buildings are a celebration of transition' says the legendary Italian architect Renzo Piano, 81, during the press preview of his first solo exhibition in London since 1989. 'I believe passionately that architecture is about making a place for people to come together and share values'.

From the controversial Pompidou Centre in Paris and the towering Shard in London to the Emergency Children's Surgery Centre currently under construction near Kampala, Uganda, Piano's buildings populate and enrich cities around the world. This long-overdue retrospective focuses on sixteen of his 'greatest hits'. Organised chronologically, we follow the development of the architect's practice, from the most significant projects of his early career to his much-anticipated buildings currently under construction.

At the heart of the exhibition is a fantasy island featuring scale models of more than 100 of Piano's most famous buildings. The centrepiece comes with a map and is flanked by a poignant series of black and white photographs of Piano on construction sites all over the world; they are the only nod to the emotional in an otherwise technical narrative. Either side are sixteen square white tables, complete with directors' chairs and reading material, each one dedicated to a Piano building.

Installation shot: Renzo Piano exhibition Royal Academy

Close inspection of the archival material on display reveals just how experimental and controversial Piano's buildings are. It becomes clear that the son of a Genoese construction family is as involved in the structural systems and individual building components of his structures as in the initial design process itself. Although renowned for his characteristic emphasis on sociability and elegant structures that embody a sense of lightness, no two designs are the same; their shapes, structures, heights, materials and purposes are incomparable. All, however, celebrate people and breathe levity into dense urban landscapes: 'lightness is a victory over gravity', Piano later affirms.

Thankfully Piano's aspiration for lightness is deftly reflected in the curatorial layout of the exhibition. Mobiles like puppets dangle from the ceilings of the galleries and float harmoniously, illuminated by the shafts of natural light in the recently renovated Gabrielle Jungels-Winkler Galleries. But, with such an extensive display of architectural drawings, models and signature full-scale maquettes, you'd be forgiven for missing the ingenuity of Piano's designs.

In this densely populated exhibition space, the majesty of Piano's designs is oft lost. Piano's oeuvre suffocates in the technical analysis of his creative process. Navigation between tables becomes tedious, and interest wanes rapidly in the austere, library-like atmosphere of the exhibition space. For such a visionary and a man reputed to have rejected the traditions of the Italian Academy in the 60s, it's a total travesty.

Why, oh why, is he not given the space he deserves to soar?