Jean Nouvel Quotes & Sayings

I like English parks. — Jean Nouvel

I like to play with architecture! It's my favorite game. — Jean Nouvel

Architecture exists, like cinema, in the dimension of time and movement — Jean Nouvel

The task of the architect is to encompass everything about the site, starting from the concrete conditions and the sensory impressions created by those, to memories of the place, through empathy to vision. — Jean Nouvel

Art should be created for life, not for the museum. — Jean Nouvel

Each new situation requires a new architecture. — Jean Nouvel

The best engineer a few decades ago was someone who could create the most beautiful beam or structure; today it's to do a structure you cannot see or understand how it's done. It disappears and you can talk only about color, symbols, and light. It's an aesthetic of miracle. — Jean Nouvel

I generally hate the luxury modern apartment with too many things out of sight and so clean you cannot touch. — Jean Nouvel

Space, space: architects always talk about space! But creating a space is not automatically doing architecture. With the same space, you can make a masterpiece or cause a disaster. — Jean Nouvel

It is not possible to design always the same. How to be different in each different place - that is the most important work and duty of the architect to find out. — Jean Nouvel

My interest has always been in an architecture which reflects the modernity of our epoch as opposed to the rethinking of historical references. My work deals with what is happening now - our techniques and materials, what we are capable of doing today. — Jean Nouvel

I think architecture has to be a gift. — Jean Nouvel

If there was a fire at my house I would throw more things on it. The only thing I would take out? Myself! — Jean Nouvel

My buildings are more famous than me. — Jean Nouvel

I don't like the idea that one hotel could be better than another. In any city, I try to find a hotel that has the identity of that place - Claridge's in London, the Danieli or Cipriani in Venice. In New York, I stay at the Mercer Hotel; it is so much in the character of SoHo. — Jean Nouvel