Jean Nouvel was born in Fumel, France in 1945. He began individual design work in 1970 and went on to graduate from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 1972. Nouvel became the vice-president of the Institut Frençais d'Architecure in 1991, and has been an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects since 1993. Nouvel has received a number of prestigious awards for his work, including the Equerre d'Argent for the best French building for both his Institut de Monde Arabe (1987) and the Lyon Opera House (1993), the medal of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres (1983), as well as the silver medal of the Academie d'Architecture (1983), the Grand Prix d'Architecture (1987) and Special mention for the Aga Khan Prize (1987).
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