Jean Nouvel

Jean Nouvel (French: [ʒɑ̃ nuvɛl]; born 12 August 1945) is a French architect. Nouvel studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and was a founding member of Mars 1976 and Syndicat de l'Architecture, France’s first labor union for architects. He has obtained a number of prestigious distinctions over the course of his career, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (for the Institut du Monde Arabe which Nouvel designed), the Wolf Prize in Arts in 2005 and the Pritzker Prize in 2008. A number of museums and architectural centres have presented retrospectives of his work.

Nouvel was born on 12 August 1945 in Fumel, France. He is the son of Renée and Roger Nouvel, who were teachers. When his father became the county's chief school superintendent, his family moved often. His parents encouraged Nouvel to study mathematics and language but when he was 16 years old he was captivated by art when a teacher taught him drawing. Although he later said he thought that his parents were guiding him to pursue a career in education or engineering, the family reached a compromise: he could study architecture, which they thought was less risky, as a profession, than art.

When Nouvel failed an entrance examination at the École des Beaux-Arts of Bordeaux, he moved to Paris, where he won first prize in a national competition to attend the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. From 1967 to 1970, he earned his income as an assistant to architects Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, who, after only one year, made him a project manager in charge of building a large apartment complex.

Nouvel and the filmmaker Odile Fillion have two sons: Bertrand, a post-doctorate computer scientist working at Mindstorm Multitouch in London, and Pierre, a theater producer and designer at his company, Factoid. With his second wife, Catherine Richard, Nouvel has a daughter, Sarah. In 2008, He was living with Mia Hägg, a Swedish architect whose practice, Habiter Autrement (HA), is based in Paris. His third wife, Lida Guan, is a Chinese architect who worked with Nouvel.

By age 25, Nouvel completed school and entered into his own partnership with François Seigneur. Early in his career, Nouvel became a key participant in intellectual debates about architecture in France: in 1976, he co-founded the Mars 1976 movement, a backlash against corporatism in architecture, and, a year later, the Syndicat de l'Architecture. For 15 years, he designed exhibits for the Biennale de Paris, where he made contacts in the arts and theater. Nouvel was one of the organizers of the competition for the rejuvenation of the Les Halles district (1977) and, in 1980, founded the first Paris architecture biennale.

In 1981, Nouvel, together with Architecture-Studio, won the design competition for the Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute) building in Paris, whose construction was completed in 1987 and brought Nouvel international fame. Mechanical lenses reminiscent of Arabic latticework in its south wall open and shut automatically, controlling interior lighting as the lenses' photoelectric cells respond to exterior light levels.

Nouvel had three different partners between 1972 and 1984: Gilbert Lezenes, Jean-François Guyot, and Pierre Soria. In 1985, with his junior architects Emmanuel Blamont, Jean-Marc Ibos and Mirto Vitart, he founded Jean Nouvel et Associés. Then, with Emmanuel Gattani, he formed JNEC in 1988. In 1994, he founded Ateliers Jean Nouvel, his present practice, with Michel Pélissié. Today, it is one of the largest architectural practices in France. Its main office in Paris employs 140 people. In addition, Ateliers Jean Nouvel has site offices in Rome, Geneva, Madrid, and Barcelona. The company is working on 30 active projects in 13 countries.

Nouvel has also designed products and furniture including cutlery for Georg Jensen in 2005, a flacon for a limited edition Yves Saint Laurent fragrance (L'Homme, 2008), and in 2012, the So So collection for American furniture manufacturer Emeco.