Nouvel, Jean

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Nouvel, Jean (1945– ). French architect. His works include the huge Institut du Monde Arabe (with Architecture Studio), Paris (1981–7—where the whole building seems to revolve around a transparent lift-shaft), a block of flats called Nemausis, Nîmes (1987—with flexible internal plans), the Hôtel des Thermes, Dax (1992), the Opera House, Lyons (1987–93—a new building constructed inside the Classical stone shell of the 1831 design by Chenevard & Pollet), the Palais des Congrès, Tours (1989–93), and the Fondation Cartier, Paris (1991–4). His Concert-Hall, Lucerne, Switzerland (opened 1998), beautifully sited by the lake, has been acclaimed as one of C20's finest musical venues. He has been one of the most relentless and uncompromising protagonists of Modernism, expressing his ideas almost polemically through his buildings. Many of his projects have been carried out with Emmanuel Cattani & Associates. His Torre Agbar, Barcelona, more gherkin-like than Foster's Swiss-Re building in London, was completed in 2004.

Bibliography

Boissière (1996, 1996a);
Kalman (1994);
Goulet (ed.) (1994);
Jodidio (1995a);
Meyhöfer (1995);
C. Morgan (1998);
Nouvel (2001)