05 - Institut du Monde Arabe

05 - Institut du Monde Arabe - Jean Nouvel - 1987

1 Rue des Fossées Saint-Bernard, Paris

Jean Nouvel (France, 1945) is famous for making buildings in harmony with the context. Nouvel is said to be a conceptual architect, that tries to blend landscapes and built forms. Nouvel is best known in Paris for the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) for which he won the contest for in 1981. For this proposal and project, he worked closely with Architecturestudio a parisian based architecture and urban design office.

Located at the threshold of the historical peripheries of Paris along the River Seine, it responds to its immediate context both in plan and elevation. In plan it follows the curvature of the road, whose form is dictated by the river. The interior spaces house numerous typologies including a restaurant, museum, library, offices, and auditorium. A main feature and innovative element of the IMA is the advanced responsive metallic brise soleil on the south façade. Nouvel’s proposal for this system was well received for its originality and its reinforcement of an archetypal element of Arabic architecture, the mashrabiyya. He drew inspiration from the traditional lattice work that has been used for centuries in the Middle East. The system incorporates several hundred light sensitive diaphragms that regulate the amount of light that is allowed to enter the building.

The project was intended to illustrate the relationship of Arab culture with France within a symbolic interpretation of the historic links between these two civilizations. The Institute is the reflectionof a dual conceptual framework, at the interface between tradition and modernarchitectural design. Its iconic architecture of glass and steel and its contemporary and innovating interpretation of the traditional mashrabiyya have turned it into one of the most prestigious buildings in the world. As affirmation to the quality of the design, it won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 1989, and the Equerre d’Argent for French architecture in 1987.