Students at Bochum University of Applied Sciences write letters to famous architects, here to the Japanese duo Sanaa.

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

Biographical data Kazuyo Sejima

1956 born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan
1981 Master’s degree in architecture at Japan Women’s University
1981 employed by Toyo Ito
1987 Founded the office Kazuyo Sejima & Associates
1992 Honored with the JIA Award as best young architectural office
1993 Exhibitions Labyrinth – New generation in Japanese Architecture (Sezon Museum of Art, Tokyo)
1993 Exhibition Kazuyo Sejima 12 Projects (Gallery-MA, Tokyo)
1993 Exhibition Japanese Contemporary Design (National Museum of modern Art, Seoul)
1993 First prize for the Commercial Space Design Award 94
1995 Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates
1997 Visiting professorships at Japan Women’s University and Tokyo Science University
1998 de Kunstlinie Theater Cultural Center, Almere Netherlands
1999-2004 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan
2001 Professor at Keio University Tokyo and visiting professor at ETH Zurich

Biographical data Ryue Nishizawa

1966 born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
1990 Graduated from Yokohama National University and employed by Kazujo Sejima & Associates
1995 Partnership with Kazujo Nishizawa as Cooperation Sanaa (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates)
1997 Founded his own office, Ryue Nishizawa Architect, to work on smaller projects
1997 Winner of the “International Competition for the World Buildings” in Salerno
1998 de Kunstlinie Theater & Cultural Center, Almere Netherlands
1999-2004 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan

Biographical data Sanaa

2000 Visiting professor at Harvard University, Cambridge, USA
2000 Erich Schilling Architecture Prize
2000 Exhibitions at the Venice Biennale and in the Garden Café of the 7th International Istanbul Biennial
2001-2002 Prada Shop, Tokyo, Japan
2003 Christian Dior Building, Tokyo, Japan
2003-2006 Zollverein School of Design, Essen, Germany
2003-2006 Naoshima Ferry Terminal, Kagawa, Japan
2003-2007 New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York USA
2004 Golden Lion Award for the work “Metamorph” at the 9th Architecture Biennale, Venice 2004
2005 Rolf Schock Prize, 46th Mainichi Shibun Arts Award
2009 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London, England
2009-2010 Rolex Learning Center at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
2010 Honored with the Pritzker Prize
2014 Sanaa currently has around 30 employees

Further literature on Sanaa

El Croquis 155: Sanaa 2008-2011 (Revista El Croquis)
Sanaa Sejima Nishizawa 1983-2004 by El Croquis by Bertrams, 2004
Sanaa Sejima Nishizawa 2004-2008: El Croquis 139 by Bertrams, 2008
Kazuyo Sejima (Sanaa), Hans Ulrich Obrist, The Conversation Series 26, Verlag Der Buchhandlung

Portrait: Takashi Okamoto
Photo: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/SANAA#mediaviewer/Datei:Zollverein_School_of_Management_and_Design_3116754.jpg