Arab World Institute
The Arab World Institute is located on Rue des Fossés Saint Bernard and constructed from 1981 to 1987 with a floor space of . Jean Nouvel, together with Architecture-Studio, won the 1981 design competition. The building acts as a buffer zone between the Jussieu Campus, in large rationalist blocks, and the Seine. The building houses a museum, library, auditorium, restaurant, and offices. Above the glass-clad storefront, a metallic screen unfolds with moving geometric motifs. The motifs are actually 240 motor-controlled apertures, which open and close every hour. They act as brise soleil to control the light entering the building. The mechanism creates interior spaces with filtered light — an effect often used in Islamic architecture with its climate-oriented strategies. This building catapulted Nouvel to fame and is one of the cultural reference points of Paris, receiving the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Located on the left bank of the Seine River, in the heart of historic Paris, Arab World Institute, a bold expression of "architecture of glass and metal", where other buildings such as the Paris Mosque, other institutions, buildings and places that mark milestones in the exchanges between the Arab world and France, is described as "modern architectural symbol of dialogue between Western culture and the Arab world."