MODERN TIMES

Jean Nouvel, Pritzker Laureate
French architect Jean Nouvel has been awarded the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize. With more than 200 projects to his name, the 63-year-old architect, who founded his firm in the 1970s, was praised by the jury for championing “new approaches to conventional architectural problems” and for his “insatiable urge for creative experimentation.” These qualities are evident in the vast stylistic variations among Nouvel’s buildings and his incorporation of new technologies and materials. At his Arab World Institute in Paris (1987), photoelectrically-controlled apertures both regulate interior light levels and reference the geometric patterns of traditional Islamic design. At his Torre Agbar office building (2003) in Barcelona, louvers moderate interior temperatures, while the shape and the treatment of the facade playfully refer to the work of Catalonian architect, Antonio Gaudí. His Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (2006) for non-Western art is a hodgepodge of colors and materials and shapes ranging from little boxes to great sweeping curves. His Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis (2006), designed to replace Ralph Rapson’s 1963 building, has a cool metallic facade that entices theatergoers with projected images of past productions.

Nouvel’s list of current projects is formidable. He is at work on a branch of France’s Louvre in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for completion in 2012, and several condominium towers in New York and Los Angeles in various stages of design or construction. One controversial 75-story tower is slated for a site next to New York’s Museum of Modern Art; three of its floors will be used as exhibition space by the museum. And in collaboration with Marshall Day Acoustics, Nouvel has been chosen to design the new Philharmonic Hall in Paris. — Sandy McLendon

Shake It Up
Cocktails evoke the more romantic side of imbibing, from the elegantly sloshed high life of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s circle to 1950s suburbia. Even those who have no idea how to mix a drink are familiar with the sound and image of cocktail shaking. The cocktail, which originated in the early 1800s, came into its own in the early 20th century, when electricity made ice freely available and a new social informality brought respectable men — as well as women — into the mix. The cocktail shaker became a locus of creativity in the ‘20s and ‘30s for manufacturers like Chase, Farberware and Revere and designers like Lurelle Guild and Norman Bel Geddes; today, the cocktail shaker is a popular collector’s item. This summer, the First International Symposium of Cocktail Shaker Collectors will take place as part of the Tales of the Cocktail festival, an annual cocktail and culinary extravaganza in New Orleans (July 16–20). Events include a panel discussion on July 16 on the history of the cocktail shaker and collecting and caring for vintage bar ware, moderated by Stephen Visakay, collector and author. On July 19, a silent auction of vintage cocktail shakers and recipe books will raise money to help rebuild the city of New Orleans. For more information, visit www.talesofthecocktail.com.— Andrea Truppin