Nouvel, Jean

▪ 2009

born Aug. 12, 1945, Fumel, Lot-et-Garonne département, France

 French architect Jean Nouvel's lack of a signature style was his trademark. Rather than making his buildings recognizably his own, he designed them to “create a visual landscape” that fits their context—sometimes by making them contrast with the surrounding area. For his boldly experimental designs, which defied a general characterization, he was awarded the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Architect Frank Gehry summarized Nouvel's strengths and weaknesses in this way: “He tries things and not everything works. There's a mixture of things that are extraordinary, things that are experiments, things that don't come off aesthetically. But Jean is willing to jump in and take on things and try. That's a great quality.”

      Nouvel's manner of conceptualizing a building had its roots in his origins. His parents, both teachers, suggested that instead of following his dream to become an artist, he should do something more practical so that he could earn a living; architecture provided a perfect compromise. In 1965 Nouvel captured the first of many prizes by winning a national competition to attend the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While there, he also worked for an architectural firm formed by the modernist architect Claude Parent and the “urbanist” and cultural theorist Paul Virilio. Nouvel graduated in 1972 with a degree in architecture.

      Not until 1987, however, did Nouvel gain an international audience. That was the year the Institute of the Arab World (Institut du Monde Arabe [IMA]) was completed, and for its design he won the 1989 Aga Khan Award for architectural excellence. The main, south facade of that building, with its high-tech aperture-like panels, manages to be at once cutting-edge in its creative response to changing levels of light and evocative of traditional Arab moucharaby (latticework grills). Other awards include a Golden Lion from the Venice Biennale (2000), a Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (2001), and the Praemium Imperiale (2001), presented by the Japan Art Association to “artists who have contributed significantly to the development of international arts and culture.”

      Nouvel's list of completed structures includes one of the three buildings that constitute Seoul's Leeum Museum (2004), Barcelona's bullet-shaped Agbar Tower (2005), the Guthrie Theatre (2006) in Minneapolis, and the quirky Quai Branly Museum (2006) in Paris. He also won a commission to design a branch of the Louvre to be built in Abu Dhabi and a 75-story mixed-use tower to be built next to New York City's Museum of Modern Art. With such an illustrious résumé, Nouvel earned a place in the pantheon of architectural superstars.

Kathleen Kuiper

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