As a building critic, I never notice that I refer to the dimensions of the building in millimeters. However, since then, most buildings have been thin and peeled and meticulously designed by the founders of Japanese custom Sanaa, Nishidagawa and Ryue Nishizawa, who were announced as recipients of this year's Riva Royal Gold Medal. It's been polished and polished.
They built Tokyo house The inner wall is only 16mm thick. The front post base of the Louvre Museum in northern France features 25 meters steel roof beams, just 12mm wide, with a fog-like phantom glitter on the horizon. Over the past 30 years, the pair has been scattered across the world with thin glass structures like soap bubbles, with thin wafer concrete canopies covered in toothpick pillars, and a bright clear enclosure that looks like it's floating. Create. wind.
“Europeans always think that's one of our unique points,” says Deadpan Nishizawa, who speaks from Sanaa office in Tokyo. “But that's part of our culture. Japan is surrounded by the ocean, the weather is constantly changing, it's very humid and affected by earthquakes. So, it's lighter in architecture. , it's best to be open to the wind as much as possible.”
His practical answer is to believe in the poems of the space they build. In Lausanne, Switzerland Sanaa's Rolex Learning CenterLocated on the campus of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, it is a swelling moonscape with space defined by carpet hills and valleys rather than walls. Students scattered around bean bags and wrapped books around corners. Sanna Museums of Modern Art in KanazawaCentral Japan consists of a maze of cubic white spaces contained within a transparent halo of glass, with no clear single visitor route. You are left to wander, like the glow of the forest. The Grace Farm Community Center in Connecticut, USA, is protected by a delicately curved canopy hovering over a gentle hill and takes the form of a meandering promenade that houses the constellations of the room that can take on any role.
“We want to create a non-hierarchical space where people can decide how to use it themselves,” says Sejima. “We don't just define one way, we don't want to allow people to find their way,” Nishizawa compares their projects to natural landscapes. I consider it to be a multi-facility building. ”
The floor plan for their building looks like a biological cellular diagram. The shape of the amoeba floats in the cytoplasmic oceans, dotted with clusters of mitochondrial pods and furniture, defined by delicate glass membranes. It looks like what happens if you leave the contents of a Petri dish and evolve on its own. Their buildings are organic as if they were hand-drawn. Vitra Furniture Factory In Germany's Weil am Rhine it is actually an unstable oval shape. Their loop Bocconi University Campus In Milan, Italy, it can become part of the intestinal tract. Why not choose simple geometric shapes that are easy to build?
“If you create a perfect circle, it won't fit naturally,” says Nishizawa. “There are very few flat lands in Japan, so you need to use free curves to avoid cutting mountains, even if there are no mountains,” he adds, creepy. “The message is still there. Human activity and nature are on the same side.”
Sana's practices are as rare as the buildings they create. Born in 1956, Sejima founded his own office in 1987. Ten years later, Nishizawa's junior joined her three years later, and in 1995 they formed Nishizawa and Associates (Sanaa) with Sejima, so that they could participate in major international competitions. The pair continue to implement their own practices from the same office, primarily for small national projects and galleries. He also works under the SANAA brand, which has a team of 60 people. Working with her” Nishizawa He once mentioned Sejima in an interview. “But if I could do this alone, I would be very depressed. The great thing is that I can suffer from my projects, lose my way, and find my own path.”
Their companions say their success comes down to their very clear combination of temperament. “She has the ability to make decisions in the right form, almost telepathic form.” One Japanese magazine editor said. “And he can understand and criticise her. She had to have a critical person,” as another Tokyo-based architect said, “Their combination is It's very good, because Sejima is a very good player and Rayw is a very good coach.”
About all the perfectionism in Sanaa, their designs can sometimes get lost in foreign translations. Their Theatre in the Dutch city of Almea There is no refinement of buildings in Japan. That involvement did not continue beyond the detailed design stage. “These are great pictures,” the Dutch contractor said, according to people who worked on the project. “But that's how we build in the Netherlands now.” In the UK, a spectacular glass greenhouse Planned for Auckland Castle In Durham County, sadly, it hit cost, complexity and covid buffers. And sometimes reality can make Sanaa's etheric ideas look a bit naive. Visiting the Rolex Center in Lausanne is about discovering the world of handrails, accessibility lamps and wedges.
Like many construction companies that experience this level of fame and success, Sanaa promotes a fierce work ethic. When a journalist once asked to make Sejima's films at her home, she directed them directly to the office. “It's like attending a monastery,” the former employee tells me. “Your life is completely dedicated to architecture. You give in to it completely – but in a very positive way. They give you a lot of responsibility early on, so no one can. I feel like I can contribute. People say you work for some star architects out of fear, but Sejima is loveless.”
What about work-life balance? What do they do with recent demands for unionization and better working conditions by European and American architects? There is a long pause. “I found myself working, having fun, resting, eating, living, sleeping. These things aren't quite as clear,” Sejima says. Is it essential to create the best building? “Working hard is really important to creating good architecture for us,” says Nishizawa. “But I think there must be a peak. Time changes and we are getting older. When I think of sculptors, they must work very hard for the sculptors. No, but if you work very much beyond a certain point, I think the stones will disappear.”
