The “Archipedia” series is a cooperation between Baumeister and Bochum University of Applied Sciences, Department of Architecture.Students of the “Architecture Media Management” Master’s program write virtual letters to the crème de la crème of the architecture world, here to the Japanese duo Sanaa.
Dear Kazuyo Sejima, dear Ryue Nishizawa,
For several months now, you have been ranked first in the international architects category of the German online portal Baunetz. Congratulations! The ranking is based on the number of publications in selected architecture journals. And it really seems to be the case: Whatever you build is published worldwide in large-format pictures. This is a regular confirmation of your very independent architecture, for which you have also been awarded a number of prizes and honors. First and foremost is the Pritzker Prize, which you, Ryue, received in 2010 as the youngest laureate in the history of the prize, at just 44 years of age, while you, Kazuyo, are one of the few women to have been honored with this most important architecture prize to date.
You started out with poetic houses in Japan and have long since become global players. What is the secret of your success? Your CVs are straightforward and constant. Before you joined forces in 1995 as the partnership SANAA (Sejima And Nishizawa And Associates), Ryue had already been working in Kazuyo’s office since the early 1990s. He also founded his own office in 1997. You, Kazuyo, worked for Toyo Ito after your studies, who was certainly a great inspiration for you. At the same time, you say in an interview with the Biennale Channel that you don’t remember that time at all. In an early interview with the blog “designboom”, you reveal that Kazuyo never wanted to be an architect as a child, but wanted to become a grandmother in order to achieve the same level of happiness and calmness that her own grandmother radiated back then.
We read that you came to architecture more or less by chance. Ryue followed his teacher’s advice when choosing his subject, while Kazuyo opted for it after ruling out other options. This is another way in which you differ from some big names in architecture, who suggest that they were born as architects and designers. That’s wonderful, because it makes you human, approachable and genuine.
Perhaps it is precisely this straightforwardness, calm and lightness that also characterizes your designs, which are often feather-light and playful and at the same time strong and present in their surroundings. They always interact with their surroundings and open up an interaction with the people who use the building. For example, in a monotonous row of New York skyscrapers, you created a museum of stacked, almost dancing white boxes, breaking through the gray blocks of Lower Manhattan. In Weil am Rhein, you have taken a classic rectangular warehouse type and made it round, elegant and unobtrusive. And in the Rolex Learning Center Lausanne, walls, ceilings and floors merge into a flowing, interactive course.
These memorable and sensitive interpretations of tasks and places lead to new typologies and atmospheric spaces. Whether viewed from inside or outside: Your architecture is worthy of front pages. In Germany, we are eagerly awaiting your expansion of the Bauhaus Archive in Berlin. And further highlights from your office are also planned on the international stage, such as the cultural center in Taiwan and a campus building in Israel.
I’m looking forward to it! Yours sincerely,
Barbara Muschol
