Jean Nouvel (born August 12, 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. He has obtained a number of prestigious distinctions over the course of his career, including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (technically, the prize was awarded 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.

His History

Nouvel was born August 12, 1945 in Fumel, Lot-et-Garonne, France, the son of Renée and Roger Nouvel who were teachers. His family moved often when his father became the county's chief school superintendent. 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 his later said he thought that his parents were guiding him to pursue a career in education or engineering, the family reached a compromise that he could study architecture which they thought was less risky 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, Nouvel 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 an large apartment complex.

Nouvel and filmmaker Odile Fillion married and have two sons, Bertrand, who is a post-doctorate computer scientist working at the University of Chiba in Japan, and Pierre, who is a theater producer and designer at his company, Factoid. With his second wife Catherine Richard, Nouvel has a daughter, Sarah. He lives now with Mia Hagg, who is a Swedish architect working at her practice Habiter Autrement (HA) in Paris

Other Projects.

· 2009 - Copenhagen, Denmark – Copenhagen Concert Hall ^[22]

· 2008 - Genoa, Italy – Pavilion B, Genoa Exhibition Centre ^[23]

· 2008 - 40 Mercer Street Residences - New York City, U.S.

· 2006 - Minneapolis, Minnesota – Guthrie Theater ^[24]

· 2006 - Paris, France – Musée du quai Branly

· 2005 - Madrid, Spain – Reina Sofía Museum expansion

· 2003 - Barcelona, Spain – Torre Agbar (Office) ^[25]

· 2002 - Murten, Switzerland – Monolith of Expo.02 ^[26]

· 2001 - Cologne, Germany – KölnTurm ^[27]

· 2001 - Prague, Czech Republic – Zlatý Anděl (Office / Retail) ^[28]

· 2001 - Vienna, Austria Rehabilitation of the Gasometer (Housing / Retail)

· 2000 - Lucerne, Switzerland – Culture and Convention Center (Performance Space / Conference Hall / Museum / Restaurant)

Torre Agbar

“This is not a tower. It is not a skyscraper in the American sense of the expression: it is a unique growth in the middle of this rather calm city. But it is not the slender, nervous verticality of the spires and bell towers that often punctuate horizontal cities. Instead, it is a fluid mass that has perforated the ground – a geyser under a permanent calculated pressure.

The surface of this construction evokes the water: smooth and continuous, but also vibrating and transparent because it manifests itself in coloured depths - uncertain, luminous and nuanced. This architecture comes from the earth but does not have the weight of stone. It could even be the faraway echo of old formal Catalan obsessions, carried by a mysterious wind from the coast of Montserrat.

The uncertainties of matter and light make the campanile of Agbar vibrate in the skyline of Barcelona: a faraway mirage day and night; a precise marker to the entry of the new diagonale that starts at Plaça de las Glorias. This singular object becomes a new symbol for an international city.”
Jean Nouvel

The building houses the new headquarters for Aguas de Barcelona (Agbar), the municipal water company.
The reinforced-concrete structure, crowned by a glass and steel dome, has a multi-colored facade of aluminum panels, behind glass louvers, in 25 different colors.