Jean Nouvel — World Architect

Frenchman Jean Nouvel (b. 1945) is a super­star in the world of archi­tec­ture. His designs are not super­flu­ous yet every­thing pos­si­ble is used in over 200 projects dat­ing from the early 1970’s to the present. Lattice work opens and shuts in response to light. Windows frame vis­tas. Color is  a strong ele­ment in his designs, includ­ing gen­er­ous use of red and blue. Shear scale make his build­ings impres­sive in amongst themselves.

Born in Fumel, Lot-et-Garonne, France to the country’s chief school super­in­ten­dent, Jean appeared on a path to a tech­ni­cal career when he dis­cov­ered draw­ing. His archi­tec­ture prac­tice began at age 25 and he was brought to the world stage with his renowned design of the Arab World Institute build­ing in Paris in 1987. In 2008, Nouvel won the Pritzker Prize, the high­est archi­tec­ture award . Presently Atelier Jean Nouvel has one of the largest design firms in France with offices in Paris, London, New York, and other cities. Much like other archi­tects includ­ing Frank Lloyd Wright, Nouvel designs many aspects of a struc­ture includ­ing inte­rior ele­ments such as door han­dles, tables, chairs, and water taps.

Completed projects lit­ter the coun­try of France, Japan, United States, Brazil, Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom. One sim­ply can stroll Manhattan and stum­ble upon one of sev­eral of his works, includ­ing 40 Mercer in SoHo, and 100 11th Avenue.

Future works include sev­eral build­ings in New York, Los Angeles, and Qatar.

Charlie Rose Interview (Click)

Nouvel on CBS Sunday Morning (Click)