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 the influential architects Claude Parent and Paul Virilio before creating his own practice in Paris. His first largely acclaimed project was the Arab World Institute in Paris (1981-87). Since then, he has completed such grand projects as the Fondation Cartier in Paris, the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the Louvre Abu Dhabi. His recent work includes the 82-story 53W53 Tower in New York, the Duo Towers in Paris, and the Shanghai Pudong Art Museum.

Based on the massive XXL monograph from 2008, this widely updated edition brings the architect's definitive career overview to one volume. The result is a nearly 800-page tome with more than 25 recent projects and new photos commensurate with Jean Nouvel's inimitable talent, which highlights milestone projects, among them his Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London, as well as works in progress such as the spectacular Sharaan Desert Resort, a hotel carved into sandstone rock in the Al-'Ula desert in Saudi Arabia. The collection's graphic design and images were conceived and selected by the architect himself, making this publication a genuine Nouvel by Nouvel, inside and out.