The national centre for film and television, a planned collaboration with the UK architects Haworth Tompkins, would have been his first building in the UK.
The BFI is expected to announce details of its 2018 riverfront refurbishment in the next few weeks.
A huge disappointment and setback for the BFI, the decision was taken shortly before Christmas and was confirmed on Tuesday.
The news, first reported by the Architects Journal, effectively ends 10 years of exhaustive planning for a new film centre on the site of the Hungerford Bridge car park.