| Jean Nouvel is the winner of Pritzker Prize'2008 which is regard as "Nobel" prize in architecture field. He is one of the world's top ten architects, and was first well-known in the world for Arab World Institute in Paris,1987. As one of French most famous contemporary architects and planners, he has an distinctive viewpoint on the material expression. He not only used the critical technological way to get beyond the tradition one, but more importantly, its design method also resulted in ever-changing style. Nouvel non-stop to break the existing logic and standards, bring the innovative thinking shocking the world.From the perspective of tectonic,this article chases the characteristics of material expression in Nouvel's works as clues to organize the full text, Nouvel's unique creative ideas, concepts and methods are analysed through a large number of design cases. In this paper, Nouvel's creative way is comprehensively interpretated,such as the reasons why architecture design derived from the perspective of tectonic are re-thought, solutions to problems are found, the important design elements are explored, more practical skills are summarized based on tectonic, a theoretical reference to practical work are provided.The artical is composed of three main parts: First, Materiality represent and de-materalize. Nouvel's definition on the materiality is ambiguous and contradictory, his design methods are chosed between materiality represent and de-materalize. In one hand, he actively explores materials'mechanical properties, inherent color, chemical properties to express the architectural body;on the other hand, he use materials construction methods and visual effects to de-materialize and mask the body, mapping out the impact of technology and cultural context on architecture , this sense derives from cognitive of the vulnerable passing time and the reconstruction of space dimensions; Second, Expansion of material expression by times. Nouvel actively follow the characteristics of new times and industry technological progress, while the new aesthetic awareness and artistic images also have significant impact on his practices. He believes that architecture is a symbol system, such language is not as symbols of traditional architecture which reflected in the facade, but the integration of the architectural space. At the same time, virtual technology assists the generation of tectonic, the dual expression of image information enables the material expression beyond the traditional architectural understanding; Third, Symbolic of material expression. Nouvel emphasize the importance of cultural symbolic, so his material expression is full of strong mystery and contradictions. He specializes in the control logic of decorative geometry and the extraction of memory elements, and also have original insights in color and scale. His techniques are bold and diverse, which make all his works have a profound symbolic significance.In conclusion, this article outlines the enlightenment imposed by the characteristics of the material expression in Nouvel's works. In view of his special understanding of architectural design and strong ability to control, I think, through the understanding of his design philosophy, study of his thinking methods, we will be introduced to a new design field : positively expressing the outside world and responding to time and space, boldly introducing new aesthetic concepts, hardly trying to de-materialize, re-definiting space, scale and materials connecting way, striving to reflect the symbolic meaning of society and history from material points. |
