Jean Nouvel

by Aurora Cuito, Cristina Montes

Jean Nouvel (Fumel, 1945) studied and started his working life in May 1968 in France. Nouvel was one of the founders of the Mars 1967 movement, which adopted a very critical position on the prevailing bureaucracy and legal anachronisms in architecture. In the early eighties, he won several competitions such as the one for the Institute of the Arab World in Paris and the social housing competition the French Government regularly organized at that time, and which led him to build the famous Nemausus blcoks in Nimes, along with Jean-Marc Ibos and Myrto Vitart. After these projects, his international prestige grew and, in the nineties, he was responsible for projects such as Tours Congress Center, the Euralille Shopping Center, and the Cartier Foundation in Paris.

Genres: Architecture

80 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. Odd, but probably acceptably so. There were weirdnesses in this volume though -- at first the text was fine, then oddities appeared that I will consider (erring on the side of kindness) part translation and part failed attempts at esoteric prose-poetry. For instance: the exterior screens "filter the light in accord with the soft textures of the rooms' finishes. All of the interiors are done with a great deal of austerity to bring about welcoming spaces. ... [the] finishes are polished concrete and confer an almost monastic feel that blends with comfort and refinement." Here's my summary of *some* of the problems with that set of sentences alone:
1. "austere" is not "soft" or "welcoming"
3. "polished concrete" is not "soft"
4. "monastic" is neither "welcoming" nor "soft" nor "comfort" nor really "refined"

Also in same entries it is impossible for me to match the pictures and renderings to the plot plans in order to determine alignment.

In general, from the outside I am not sold on these spaces (though I do like the exteriors of the Cartier Foundation), but generally the interiors are quite compelling, especially Galleries Lafayette and the Gasometer A (though since the exterior was saved as historic structure it looks quite nice to me). I cannot for the life of me figure out why you would put a volleyball court in the middle of an office building though (CLM-BBDO).