On June 2, 2008, acclaimed French architect Jean Nouvel received his profession’s highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Considered one of the world’s most inventive architects, Mr. Nouvel’s unique approach is driven by the specificities of context, program and site — resulting in a stylistic language all his own.
Mr. Nouvel burst upon the international architecture scene in 1981 when his breakthrough design for the Institut du Monde Arabe (Institute of the Arab World) in Paris won the competition for a series of great projects commissioned by French President Francois Mitterrand.
His firm Ateliers Jean Nouvel has received major commissions such as the Centro de Arte Reine Sofia in Madrid, Spain; the Musée de Quai Branly in Paris; the restoration of the Opera House of Lyon, France; and the Agbar Tower in Barcelona. In 1987, Mr. Nouvel received the Grand Prix d'Architecture for his entire body of work and the Equerre d'Argent for his furniture designs. The Royal Institute of British Architects honored him with its Royal Gold Medal in 2001.
In the U.S., Jean Nouvel’s brilliant designs for high-rise residential buildings in New York, including the 13-story 40 Mercer building in Soho and 100 11th Avenue in Chelsea, have received critical accolades. Nouvel has also unveiled the design for a 75-story tower adjacent to the Museum of Modern Art that will house a hotel, luxury apartments and three floors of museum exhibition space. 10000 Santa Monica Boulevard is Mr. Nouvel’s first building in the western United States.
