Jean Nouvel: Interview 2007

what is the best moment of the day?
I am a night bird so I prefer the evening and the night.

what kind of music do you listen to?
I listen to the music my girlfriend prefers because
I can discover a lot of things. I must say that I love
the human voice. I like opera, religious songs,
for example french 11th century polyphony -
the 'chante de l'ecstase'. but also singers,
for me the human voice is the most emotional thing.

what books do you have on your bedside table?
'the book of disquiet' by fernando pessoa,
because it's so peaceful. it is a permanent lesson of
philosophy and when you are a little bit too busy like me,
a little bit excited, it is necessary to have this kind of let go.

do you listen to the radio?
in the car.

where do you get your news from?
I am a paper eater! everyday I buy the daily newspaper.
every week all the weekly magazines because I travel a lot.

I guess that you notice how women dress, do you have any preferences?
sometimes it has to be casual sometimes it has to be more
elegant. it depends on the moment.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
I am always in black so it is very easy.
I avoid everything else.
black in spring, autumn and winter, but in the summer months,
when I am in the south of france, I wear completely white.

do you have any pets?
not really.
some mosquitos! (laughs)

do you discuss your work with other designers?
I discuss architecture with a lot of my friends because
I work with a lot of consultants and I organise advisors
with whom I have recurrent discussions with over
long periods. we think similarly and understand
each other. for every project I find the right team of consultants
to do different things, ... but in france we don't have a
'salon of architecture'.
it's a pity.
I think the spirit of everyone is to be alone.

where do you work on your projects?
in my bed, around the table in restaurants with
everyone talking, and sometimes at the big table in
my office also. there is something very alive in this
contrast between big meetings of brainstorming
and after, alone in the silence. I spend a lot of time
in silence.

could you describe your style as a good friend of yours might?
my research is always around the idea of specificity
and I don't like to repeat the same vocabulary or to
do the same architecture on every spot on the earth.
I always research good reasons to do one thing in
a specific place, one thing with these people and
all the good reason to create something unique.
matter and light is the big question of the epoch and
the meaning of the world.
you have to work and every work has to ask a question
in these dimensions.

can you describe an evolution in your work from your first projects to the present day?
I am not in the best place to see that. I think it is always
the same brain, the same feeling behind the work
so I research every opportunity to do something in
one way and not in another but I always have this
question of 'identity'.
I would say 'modification of space', for short or long
periods, to create a kind of 'little world' at the same time
to extend the known world.

can you go more into detail?
it is important is to consider that each place is a stage in
a mutation. but there is also a geographic and historic
continuity.I prefer projects that begin with the idea of
modification rather than disconnecting from the context.
my attitude is not modest. I always wish to do a project
full of simplicity, delicacy, depth.
projects which maintain the spirit of the location,
the desire of people, of the city or countryside,
of the buildings that came before it.

where is ethics in architecture?
there is the desire to analyze and understand the world.
but this should not prevent us from expressing something,
from inventing, and in that sense 'utopia' is a part of our work.
I think now with all the cloning and repetition of
the same buildings across the world, the world has
become smaller and smaller. I think we have to evolve if
it's possible to create differences.
not for the sake of it, but 'differences' as signs of deeper
understanding.

are there any architectural works from the past that have influenced you particularly ?
I am very sensitive to the 'architectures of light',
the many cathedrals and the churches of the 11th and
12th centuries, for example, the 'saint chapelle' chapel in paris,
or much later, the 'maison de verre' by pierre chareau.

and those architects still working today...
of course, of course a lot.
it is always a difficult game because I can give you ten names.
after that, why ten and not eleven?
it is a big question.

do you have any advice for the young?
no I do not like to give advice.
every person has his own reasons, would need to to analyse
them and find his own path.

so you don't teach?
I refuse to teach, always.
I am the son of two teachers and for me to teach is a
very very difficult job.
you have to try to know your pupils very well and to
push them to their own epanouissement (blossoming).
I find lecturing very difficult, the only thing I can consider,
an effective way to teach a little bit, is in a workshop -
to have people working with me. afterwards they can use
their acquired knowledge with their own judgment and
choose their own working relationships.

is there anything that you're afraid of regarding the
future?
I am not afraid of the future, no. I don't care about
the future. I care about the present.
on a political level there are some issues which are
important and some which are not, but I am optimistic.
I think that the story of humanity can go in the right direction
and it does not always need to go in the worst way.