DE51GN

This is definitely Jean Nouvel’s year. After winning the coveted Pritzker Prize earlier this year, the French architect has been selected to design a high-rise tower called the Signal Tower in La Défense business district on the outskirts of Paris. Nouvel who was chosen from among five finalists, including Norman Foster and Daniel Libeskind.

The building is part of an ambitious plan to revitalise La Défense that was first conceived in 2006 by Nicholas Sarkozy who was then a high-profile official in a government organisation. Comprising four segments that resemble stacked cubes, the tower to be completed by 2015, will have apartments on the upper floors, as well as a hotel, offices and a business plaza.

Nouvel is also designing The Louvre Abu Dhabi and the W Hotel at Dubai Festival City.