French architect Jean Nouvel (photo) has been awarded the 2008 Pritzker Prize, the highest honor for architecture, for his creative experimentation and buildings that speak to their surroundings, the Pritzker jury said on the day before.

In nearly four decades, Nouvel has designed more than 200 projects in his native France, around Europe, in Asia and the United States, fighting what he calls ?generic architecture.?

?His inquisitive and agile mind propels him to take risks in each of his projects, which, regardless of varying degrees of success, have greatly expanded the vocabulary of contemporary architecture,? the jury said in its citation.

Nouvel, 62, said he was surprised at winning the $100,000 prize this year since he is not inaugurating any major work, but felt ?very honored? to join the elite group of 32 Pritzker laureates. He is the second French architect to win the prize.

Nouvel gained international prominence with his Institut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute), built in Paris in 1987 and famous for using adjustable metal lenses on a glass facade to control interior light ? a modern take on traditional Arab latticework.

The layering of light and transparency and opacity are recurring themes in Nouvel?s work, most recently in his Tour Verre, a 75-story tower to be built in New York City, and in the Suncal Tower, a high-rise planned for Los Angeles. Nouvel said he enjoys playing with the reflections of clouds and vegetation on the surfaces of his buildings. ?These games of light and depth of field are here to create a question about the reasons for this building in this world,? he added.