Jean Nouvel, winner of the 2008 Pritzker Prize, is widely regarded as France's most original and important contemporary architect. From 1967 to 1970 he assisted influential architects Claude Parent and Paul Virilio, before creating his own practice in Paris. His first widely acclaimed project was the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris (198187). Since then he has completed the Lyon Opera House, the Euralille Shopping Center, Lille, and the Fondation Cartier, Paris. His major completed projects since 2000 include the Culture and Convention Center in Lucerne, Switzerland, the spectacular Agbar Tower in Barcelona, the extension of the Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid, the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Nouvel won the RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Gold Medal in 2001 and the Pritzker Prize in 2008.
