Transparency is a recurring feature of your architecture. What does it express?
Jean Nouvel: It has to do with the question of matter. The big issues today revolve around questions about the essence of matter. We know that some very fundamental things happen in the realm of the invisible. Transparency doesn’t only mean showing things through something else. It means we use a material called glass, and that it is one of the only materials that can be programmed by light. I mean, if I shine a light in front of it this creates a reflection, and if I light it from behind, it will disappear. It is a means of capturing instants in time, the changing light of day and of the seasons. At the Fondation, the temporary exhibitions modify the building and become a source of speculation for passers-by. For the By Night exhibition, it was all black, for être nature, it was completely transparent, and Issey Miyake turned it into a gigantic display window. Each time, something happens that changes the nature of the building and relates directly to what it is being used for.