Signature · Architecture · Paris
Jean Nouvel
The French Pritzker laureate who planted a garden tower in the heart of São Paulo: the global signature that anchors the most coveted address at Cidade Matarazzo.
Who he is
Jean Nouvel (Fumel, France, 1945) is one of the most important living architects in the world, awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2008 — the profession’s highest honour. A graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts de Paris, he opened his first office in 1970 and, in 1994, established Ateliers Jean Nouvel, today headquartered in Paris with projects in dozens of countries. His architecture rejects a fixed style: it always starts from place, light and context, and turns each project into a singular object, often with a strong dialogue between technology, materiality and landscape.
Language
- Style: contextual and authorial, with no fixed formula; each project is born of the place, the light and the climate. In Brazil, this translated into the idea of a “landscape-building”.
- Materials and signature: play of light and shadow, screens and lattices that filter light, vegetation built into the architecture. His maxim for the São Paulo tower: “like a tree, a tower must have roots.”
- Awards: Pritzker (2008), Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale (2000), Praemium Imperiale, RIBA gold medal.
Landmark works
- Torre Mata Atlântica at Rosewood São Paulo — Cidade Matarazzo, São Paulo (2022), 25 staggered floors in suspended gardens, with interiors by Philippe Starck and landscape design by Benedito Abbud.
- Institut du Monde Arabe — Paris (1987), with the celebrated façade of photosensitive diaphragms.
- Musée du quai Branly — Paris (2006).
- Torre Agbar — Barcelona (2005).
- Louvre Abu Dhabi — United Arab Emirates (2017), under the great “rain of light” dome.
- Philharmonie de Paris (2015) and One Central Park — Sydney (2014).
Signatures in the portfolio
No development in the collection carries this signature yet — it is here for the weight of the name in São Paulo's high end.
