Jean Nouvel was born in 1945 in Fumel, in south-west France. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, graduating in 1971. In the 1980s he was among the protagonists of Mitterrand's Grands Travaux — the season of the Grand Louvre, commissioned directly, without a competition, from Ieoh Ming Pei and his Pyramid. In 1987 he inaugurated the Institut du Monde Arabe and became instantly famous. From then on he has built everywhere in the world, at every scale — from the Torre Agbar in Barcelona (2005) to the Louvre Abu Dhabi (2017), from One Central Park in Sydney (2014) to the Philharmonie de Paris (2015).
Nouvel's central theme is not form but light. Not light as scenographic effect — the beam of light in the dark, the zenithal oculus, picturesque effects. Light as a construction material: light that passes through, that is filtered, that changes over time. The façade of the Institut du Monde Arabe is the manifesto: 240 mechanical diaphragms in steel and aluminium, each formed of blades that open and close like the iris of a camera in response to photosensors that measure the external light. The result is a façade that changes continually during the day — it opens in the morning when the sun is low, closes at midday when the light is intense, reopens in the afternoon.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi
The Louvre Abu Dhabi (2017) is Nouvel's most recent and most ambitious project. The brief is extraordinary: build an encyclopaedic museum in the Persian Gulf desert, with a collection that brings together works of art from all the world's cultures (with the loan of the name and part of the collection of the Louvre in Paris, for 30 years, in exchange for a billion euros). Nouvel responds with a steel dome 180 metres in diameter — a “rain of light” — perforated with arabesque geometric patterns, floating above a complex of pavilions inspired by the traditional Arab city.
The dome filters sunlight into thousands of rays of light that move during the day — a visual effect comparable to light filtering through the leaves of a tree. It is not a random effect: Nouvel calculated the geometry of the perforations to maximise the effect of point light on the floor. The structure is also technically sophisticated: the dome weighs 7,500 tonnes and is supported by only four points — four steel piers at the ends that hold it aloft without intermediate columns.
The critique of Nouvel
The main criticism levelled at Jean Nouvel is that his buildings are theatrical — beautiful in photographs, less convincing in daily use. The diaphragms of the Institut du Monde Arabe jammed after a few years — the precision mechanics did not withstand wear. The system has never been completely repaired. The Fondation Cartier in Paris — a transparent glass building with trees growing in front of the façade — is beautiful but cold in winter. The Torre Agbar in Barcelona has an almost inaccessible ground floor and a difficult relationship with the surrounding neighbourhood.
But let us return to the Louvre Abu Dhabi. The dome works — the effect of the rain of light is extraordinary. The museum is well attended. The collection is of high quality. The agreement with the Louvre (criticised in France as a “sell-off” of the national cultural heritage) brought a world-class museum to Abu Dhabi. Whether that is good or bad for art is an open question. That the building is one of the most beautiful built in the last decade is less debatable.