The Pritzker 2010 jury was seduced by the quality, the economy of resources, the sobriety and the apparent simplicity of their projects. It is a deserved recognition for Kazuyo Sejima (1957), a former collaborator of Toyo Ito and for Ryue Nishizawa (1996). The two architects merged their creative talents by founding their office SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) in 1995. Their conceptual universe, poetic and full of surprises, creates some extraordinary spatial experiences. Their reputation became international with the Nagano O-Museum and the Kanazawa Museum of Contemporary Art of the XXI century. The latter project concentrates the strong points of the architects’ philosophy: fluid flows, new spatial combinations and lightness of materials (glass metal, textiles) proposed in different concepts.
Their minimalist look projects are underlined by a sophisticated design and implementation with absolute precision research execution. Everyone confirms the extraordinary authenticity of their work. Exploring contemporary materials and making them live by light and shadow games, highlighting the tensions between interior and exterior as well as the interaction between man and space, SANAA designed the transparent Christian Dior building in Tokyo, asymmetrically built the seven huge blocks of the New York Museum of Contemporary Art or played with concrete and glass for the Rolex Training Centre in Lausanne, an undulating building like a Mobius Strip.  The extension of the Federal Polytechnic School building presents a completely new spatial concept creating new life, learning and community frameworks.

This precision research is also noticed in the Zollverein of Management and Design, built on the site of an old coal mine (Essen, Germany). The building has an impressive concrete surface which creates a fluid space for the students. From the plan the building is a perfect rectangle but it takes on a totally organic aspect with the curves and slopes which define the interior space. Their other projects include the IVAM museum in Valencia (Spain), the Kunstlinie cultural centre in Almere (Netherlands) or the 2009 Summer Pavilion of the Serpentine Gallery in London, an undulating aluminium structure on top of a delicate system of columns which has now been dismantled. The new building on the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rheim is a challenge for the architects who had until now mainly worked in the cultural field. It is an additional proof that they always have clear and simple answers to complex problems. The future Louvre-Lens museum is now in the focus. A serie of long sober grey boxes integrates perfectly the site without ostentation. This has come from a policy of decentralisation and democratisation of the Museum and this "other Louvre" will open its doors in 2012. A low structure made up of five building blocks integrates perfectly with the site without overwhelming. Alongside this project, since 2007 SANAA has implemented a program of 140 public housing spaces in Paris and will also design the renovation of the Paris department store La Samaritaine, closed since five years. This LVMH property will be refurbished in a building including shops, housing, offices and a hotel.

Despite this very heavy agenda Kazuyo Sejima will also be the organiser of the Venice Architecture Biennial, next autumn. “I have always been in favour of a more open architecture, which is for me important for a new generation of architects." To be continued.

Copyrights

Photo 1 :
© Takashi Okamoto, Courtesy of SANAA

Photos 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 :
© Hisao Suzuki, Courtesy of SANAA

Photo 9 :
© SANAA/ Imrey Curbert / Catherine Mosbach