Paris - Arab World Institute

(Local Name: Institut du Monde Arabe) On the banks of the Seine opposite the Pont de Sully in Paris is the Institut du Monde Arabe, a tall rectangular building (completed 1988) with a facade which has the effect of filigree work. This cultural center, established to promote relations between East and West, was designed by Jean Nouvel in a style with reminiscences of Arab architecture. It consists of two slender parallel slabs, nine storys high, housing a library, lecture rooms, a museum and a documentation center. A feature of the building is the fenestration of the south front: square windows reaching the full height of the story with ornamental metal openwork screens filtering light into the rooms