Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa © Designboom

SANAA : kazuyo sejima + ryue nishizawa
http://sanaa.co.jp
kazuyo sejima and ryue nishizawa have been working

collaboratively under the name ‘sanaa’ since 1995.
sejima studied architecture at the japan women's university
before collaborating with architect toyo ito.
she launched her own practice in 1987 and was named
‘young architect of the year’ in japan in 1992.
nishizawa studied architecture at yokohama national
university and, in addition to his work with sejima, has also
maintained an independent practice since 1997.
recent work include:

2000 - day care center, kanagawa, japan
2001- prada beauty, hong kong, china
2003 - christian dior building, tokyo, japan
2004 - 21st century museum of contemporary art, kanazawa.
current projects include:
2003 - ... - zollverein school, essen, germany.
2003 - ... - new museum of contemporary art, new york, usa
sejima and nishizawa have been awarded

many prizes such as the ‘gold lion’ at venice biennale (2004)
and the ‘arnold brunner memorial’ medal of the
american academy of arts and letters (2002).
kazuyo sejima and ryue nishizawa
© designboom
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we met SANAA at their exhibition in the basilica palladiana,
vicenza, on the october 29th, 2005.
what is the best moment of the day?

s: just before I go to sleep, everything is finished then!
what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?

s: classical.
do you listen to the radio?

s: no.
what books do you have on your bedside table?

s: no books, just the magazines.
do you have any preference in fashion?

s: I often wear 'commes des garcons'.
what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?

s: nothing in particular; what I want to wear, I wear.
do you have any pets? the new, new museum, new york, USA. (2003 - construction began 2005 ).
by SANAA.
n: no, we have no pets.
when you were a child, did you want to become
an architect?
n: I would never have imagined myself being architect.
s: me too.
n: she wanted to be a grandmother! kind of funny!
grandmothers always look like...
s: they are relaxed.
n: happy and relaxed.
s: yes when I was a child I really wanted to be a
grandmother.
n: to sit on the terrace and enjoy the sunlight.
where do you work on your designs and projects?

s: basically in the office.
which project has given you the most satisfaction?

n: every project has its own satisfaction, and reflection.
and we need both to move to the next step.
who would you most like to design a building for?

s: a school, but I have no experience yet,
n: yes, she wants to build a public building for kids.
s: he wants to make a church.
do you discuss your work with other architects?

n: yes, in japanese society, we often do organized
discussions, ‘officially’ with other architects, and we try
to critic each other ...
s: it is useful to have some comment.
n: yes, at architectural meetings, or at a symposium.
but also we do it sometimes at the bar...
to compliment each other (laughs).
describe your style, like a good friend of yours

would describe it...
n: coherant, consistant, always doing the same thing.
dior store, tokyo, japan (2001 - 2003).
one of our contants big concerns is how to create a
by SANAA
relation between the inside and outside, this is very
important for us to think about.
s: and also proportion. I mean not ‘good proportion’ but
the size and if it fits into that area.
when we use glass or a screen or a concrete wall,
this depends mostly on the area.
can you describe an evolution in your work from

you first project to the present day?
n: I dont know where to start from, we founded the
SANAA office in 1995 and ten years has past since.
before most of our projects were driven by planning,
through dimensional organisation.
s: probably our interest now is more how to organise
‘a program’ within a building - the layout of rooms and how
people move inside. but also how to keep a relationship
between the ‘program’ and the outside and then how the
outside fits to the surroundings. in each project we have
different requirments and the site is different, we try to
find our way.
n: recently I feel something is getting different,
for example we are now working on the learning centre
project for the polytechnic university of lausanne in
swizterland...
and here we have more three dimensional changes,
located outside of the two dimensional wall.
this is what we feel recently as an evolution from
the beginning period.
is there any architects and/or designer from the

past you appreciate a lot?
s: a lot.
n: le corbusier, mies van der rohe, oscar niemeyer
these are an unforgetable ‘trio’ for me.
and those still working?

n: frank gehry, rem koolhaas, alvaro siza...
s: it is difficult to rest within a few, there are so many we like.
do you have any advice for the young?

n: practice,
n+s: continue!
what are you afraid regarding the future?

s: I am always afraid of the future but at the same time
I’m looking forward to it. we want to be able to contribute to it.
n: well, personally I am very worried about my future,
because don't know what will happen!
I make plans, but you cannot predict.
zollverein school of design, essen, germany (2003 - construction began 2005).

by SANAA.
o museum, nagano, japan 1995-99.

by SANAA
© photo sanaa.
interior detail.
o museum, nagano, japan 1995-99.
by SANAA
© photo sanaa.
kanazawa museum of contemporary art of the XXI century,

ishikawa, japan (1999-2004).
by SANAA
© photo sanaa.
interior detail.
kanazawa museum of contemporary art of the XXI century,
ishikawa, japan (1999-2004).
by SANAA
© photo sanaa.
extension of the institute of modern art, valencia, spain (2002 - ).

by SANAA
chair for nextmaruni
limited edition 2005
designed by SANAA
civic center of onishi, gumma, japan (2003-05).

kazuyo sejima & associates
© photo sanaa
women’s dormitory saishunkan seiyaku, kumamoto, japan (1990-91)
© photo sanaa
gifu kitagata apartments , gifu, japan (1994-2000)

© photo shinkenchiku
weekendhouse, gunma, japan (1997-98)
studio ryue nishizawa
interior detail
weekendhouse, gunma, japan (1997-98)
house in kamamura, kanagawa, japan (1999-2001)
interior detail.
house in kamamura, kanagawa, japan (1999-2001)
New Museum
New York, NY
21st Century Museum

Kanazawa, Japan
The Architect’s Studio

Competition Sketches
De Kunstlinie’
Theatre and Cultural Centre
Almere, The Netherlands
Inauguration
Glass Pavilion
Toledo Museum of Art
Toledo, Ohio
Inauguration
Zollverein School
Essen, Germany
Under contruction
Glass Pavilion
Toledo, Ohio
IVAM Extension
Valencia, Spain
Under construction
The Zollverein School
Essen, Germany
ew Museum of Contemporary Art

New York, New York
Inauguration
SANAA
Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa
Zollverein School
Essen, Germany
“Our aim was to achieve transparency in the concrete structure.”

SANAA
Photo: © Thomas Mayer
The Zollverein School of Management & Design, inaugurated on July 31, 2006, is the first new
building on the historical coal-mining Zollverein site; declared a World Heritage Site by
UNESCO in 2001.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
“We wanted to design a simple cubic building to compliment the existing buildings and achieve
continuity within the site.”
SANAA
The design, a cuboid structural shell, picks up the basic functional and effective idea used by
the original Zollverein architects Schupp and Kremmer.
The oversized cube, which measures 35 meters by 35 meters and is 35 meters high, reflects
the dimensions of the Zollverein mine.
Photo: arcspace
The seemingly coincidental organization of the openings, windows in three different sizes,
create an unusual interaction with the surroundings and the interior.
“We have made many big openings in the facades to create different daylight situations inside
the building. The position of the windows are defined by the interior programs. By varying the
ceiling heights each floor has a very different atmosphere.”
SANAA
More information about the building in earlier arcspace feature.


Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace

Photo: arcspace
Total area: ca. 5,000 square meters

Completed: July 2006
Zollverein School of Management and Design

Zeche Zollverein
Rem Koolhaas:
Zollverein Masterplan
Follow the project in Photographer Thomas Mayer’s archive.
SANAA arcspace features
August 7, 2006
Under construction
SANAA
The Zollverein School
Essen, Germany
“The design is like a burst of jazz in the middle of a classical composition.”

Glenn D. Lowry
Director, MoMA
The Zollverein School of Management & Design will be the first new building on the historical
coal-mining Zollverein site; declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2001.
Inauguration July 31, 2006 arcspace feature
Image courtesy the Zollverein School
The design, a cuboid structural shell, picks up the basic functional and effective idea used by
the original Zollverein architects Schupp and Kremmer.
The oversized cube, which measures 35 meters by 35 meters and is 35 meters high, reflects
the dimensions of the Zollverein mine.
The seemingly coincidental organization of the openings, windows in three different sizes,
create an unusual interaction with the surroundings and the interior.
Photo: Thomas Mayer
The building has four floors with ceilings of varying height as well as a roof garden. The idea of
stacking open floor plans was developed in compliance with the demands made by the various
functions.
Photo: Thomas Mayer
A multi-level presentation hall, exhibition and foyer areas for public use, and a café, are
located on the ground floor.
The Design Studios on the second floor will be a production level, home to the creative
workplaces.
Photo: Thomas Mayer
The library is on the third floor together with open, glazed seminar rooms as well as several
separate, quiet workplaces along the north-east facade.
The fourth floor is the office level, with working areas of various sizes and characters, divided
by glass walls.
Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer
Windows in the exterior walls and appropriately distributed lighting will guarantee daylight and
visual connections for all workplaces.
The garden on the roof can also be used on a temporary basis, and will serve above all as a
viewing platform over the Zollverein World Heritage Center.
The Zollverein School will act as a bridge between teaching, research, and practical
implementation in relation to the planned Design Park as the Zollverein grows and prospers as
a design location.
Photo: Thomas Mayer
SANAA, Kazuyo Sejima (right) and Ryue Nishizawa, won the international competition in 2002.
The Master Plan for the redevelopment work was designed by Rem Koolhaas (OMA).
The entire infrastructure and design of the industrial landscape, from the pathways via the
parking lots and green areas to the drains, are being redesigned by landscape planning office
Agence Ter.
One of the most noteworthy innovations being used is a cost-cutting energy concept that will
allow the Zollverein School to use the thermal pit water that is still pumped from the ground
at the Zollverein as a source of energy.
Site Plan courtesy SANAA
Ground Floor Plan courtesy SANAA

Roof Plan courtesy SANAA
Section courtesy SANAA
Total area: app. 5,000 square meters

Construction start: March 2005
Client: Zollverein School

Architects: SANAA
Project architect: Nicole Berganski
Associate architects: Böll & Krabel
Masterplan: Rem Koolhaas OMA
Landscape: Agence Ter
Zollverein
View the latest arcspace feature:

The Inauguration
Follow the project with Photographer Thomas Mayer.
May 23. 2005
SANAA
IVAM Extension
Valencia, Spain
Image courtesy SANAA
IVAM, inaugurated in 1989, was the first modern art museum to open in Spain. Designed by
Valencian architects Emilio Giménez and Carlos Salvadores the museum was remodelled in
2000 by Emilio Giménez and Julián Esteban.

The new extension will cover the whole block, including the exterior areas, in a transparent
“Skin” that will increase the volume of the building and create new public spaces between the
“Skin” and the existing building.
The existing IVAM building will be visible through the “Skin” and, when lit-up at night, the new
extension will accentuate the building’s impact on the city.
The “Skin” is a light, perforated metal which allows daylight, wind and rain to gently pass
through. The public space within mixes natural and conditioned air to create a semi-
indoor/outdoor space.
The program, including the existing building which is converted to galleries, new and old city
foyer, roof terrace, sculpture gardens, and children’s terrace are unified by the “Skin.”
The extension will reorient the main entrance of the museum toward the Barrio de El Carmen
in the old city, providing access to the café, the shop, the auditorium, and the sculpture
garden located on the rooftop terrace. The current Guillem de Castro entrance will become a
space inside the museum, sheltered by the skin. By opening the two sides the museum
connect the old city center to the new city.
The terrace with its sculpture garden and restaurant, offering magnificent views of the city,
will be the main leisure area for visitors. Access to the terrace will be from the building or from
a panoramic lift beside the Guillem de Castro entrance.
The current building contains eight galleries that houses both permanent and temporary
exhibitions. One of the galleries, with its own separate entrance, shows the remains of the
mediaeval ramparts that once enclosed the city of Valencia. The extension will add six new
galleries as well as public spaces.
Sketch courtesy SANAA

Total area existing building: 18,000 square meters

Total area extension: 8,028 square meters
Terrace: 2,100 square meters
Total floor area: 31,000 square meters
Client: Insititut Valencia d’art Modern

Architect: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
Design Team :
Yoshitaka Tanase
Yumiko Yamada
Rikiya Yamamoto
Hiroaki Katagiri
Architect of Record: Área Ingeniería y Arquitectura S.L.
Structural Consultant: SAPS - Sasaki and Partners
Structural Engineer: Obiol, Moya y Asociados, S.L
Mechanical/Electrical Engineer: IDOM
Acoustical Consultant: GBBM
Environmental Consultant: ARUP
Lighting Consultant: ARUP Lighting
October 3, 2005
SANAA
New Museum of Contemporary Art
New York, New York
"We have tried to design a transparent building in the sense that we are not hiding what is
happening behind the surface of the structure."
Completed New Museum December 2007 arcspace feature
The New Museum, the first major art museum to be constructed in downtown Manhattan in
the city's modern history, will be located on the Bowery on what is now an 8,000 square foot
parking lot.
Photo courtesy the New Museum of Contemporary Art
Scheduled to break ground in October 2004 the seven-story composition - a stack of

rectangular boxes shifted off axis in different directions, clad in silvery galvanized, zinc-plated
steel, and punctuated by skylights and windows offering vistas and vignettes of the city -
doubles the size of the New Museum's current facilities on Broadway in SoHo.
In addition to dramatically expanded, flexible, and column-free exhibition space, the Bowery
building will offer an innovative new media center, a black-box theater/auditorium, bookstore,
expanded classrooms, library and study center, café, and wrap-around rooftop terraces.
At night, the building's metallic exterior will be washed with artificial lighting from
within.
Summarizing their approach to the design for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, SANAA
has said: "The solution emerged through an extensive period of trial and error. We made
numerous study models based upon the New Museum's program and the demands of the site,
the zoning envelope. First we arrived at the notion of the boxes themselves; each one
represents a specific piece of the program developed by the Museum. Then we tried shifting
the boxes to render the inside of the building more accommodating and open, with more
possibilities for daylight to enter spaces and views to appear at various points in the interiors.
We designed the building from the inside out, based upon our understanding of the Museum's
needs. Because of the kind of art the Museum shows and the curatorial approach they take,
we wanted to design simple spaces - spaces without columns and with a lot of possibilities for
different configurations, for placement of temporary dividing walls, and so forth - that would
provide the widest range of options. We do not believe that a building should overwhelm or
compete with the art presented within it, particularly when it comes to contemporary art. So
we have tried to make spaces that are inviting but straightforward."
Total area: 60,000 square feet
Estimated completion: Spring 2006.
Architects: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa SANAA LTD.

Associate architects: Guggenheimer Architects, New York
Project architect: Florian Idenburg
Structural engineer: Guy Nordenson
Founded in 1977, the New Museum is the leading contemporary art museum in New York City
and among the most respected internationally, with a curatorial program unrivaled in the
United States in its global scope and adventurousness. The Museum's Media Lounge,
launched in November 2000, is the only museum space in New York City devoted to
presenting digital art and experimental video from around the world.
"In keeping with the New Museum's mission and spirit, we have chosen a younger firm that,
while not yet well known in the United States, is quite established in the design and
construction of outstanding public facilities and experienced in addressing urban settings."
Saul Dennison
President of the Board of Trustees
Photo courtesy SANAA

Architects Kazuyo Sejima (right) and Ryue Nishizawa
The Architects Kazuyo Sejima, 47, and Ryue Nishizawa, 37, have received accolades
internationally for work that is luminous and minimal in its aesthetics; sophisticated in its
treatment of complex building detail and fluid, non-hierarchical space; and highly original in its
use of exterior facades as permeable membranes that establish subtle but provocative
relationships between interior and exterior, individual and community, and the realms of
public and private experience.
The architects have worked collaboratively in the partnership of SANAA Ltd. since 1995.
Sejima studied architecture at the Japan Women's University before going to work for the
celebrated architect Toyo Ito. She launched her own practice in 1987 and was named Young
Architect of the Year in Japan in 1992. Nishizawa studied architecture at Yokohama National
University and, in addition to his work with Sejima, has maintained an independent practice
since 1997.
In Japan, the firm has completed numerous critically acclaimed commercial and institutional
buildings, community centers, homes and museums. Among these are two jewel-like private
museum buildings - the O Museum in Nagano (1999) and the N Museum in Wakayama
(1997), and the Day-Care Center in Yokohama (2000).
Photo: Jin Hosova
O - Museum (1995/1999)
Lida, Nagano Prefecture, Japan
Sejima also designed the celebrated Small House in Tokyo (2000). SANAA Ltd. is currently
building the Contemporary Art Museum in Kanazawa, Japan, and an addition to the Valencia
Institute of Modern Art (IVAM) in Spain.
December 1, 2003
Under construction
SANAA
Glass Pavilion
Toledo, Ohio
The Glass Pavilion, an annex across the street from the Toledo Museum of Art, will contain an
extensive glass art collection, temporary exhibition galleries and glass making facilities.
Because of its location, in a park at the southernmost end of a historical Victorian-style

housing district, It was necessary to consider both the preservation of the dense growth of
150-year old trees in the park and the surrounding historical neighborhood in conceiving the
design.
SANAA designed the museum as a low, single-story pavilion with a series of courtyards open
the sky, so that visitors, when inside the building, still feel they are walking under the trees.
The visionary programmatic requirement of combining the two somewhat contradictory

programs of the “rough” glass making studio and the “refined” museum galleries, showing
them both equally and concurrently, was the catalyst for the design.
Bringing the surrounding park into the building, not only visually but also as an experience,
adds to the complexity of the floor plan.
Mock-up
The curved glass walls, separating the spaces in the building, give visitors visual contact with
the outside, the glass making activities, and the art, at all times.

Entrance Foyer
The spaces, each containing a different function, are arranged and shaped to separate gently,
but also connect. The “in between” spaces, a result of the independent shapes, function as a
dynamic buffer, sometimes emphasizing closeness, something strengthening the distance.
The shape of the walls guide visitors in different directions, creating unique experiences
throughout the sequence of spaces.
Main foyer

Hotshop
The approximate 32.000 square feet of glass originates from a batch of float glass in Austria
that, prior to being shipped to the site in Toledo, was curved and laminated in southern China.
Thin solid steel columns and the use of 3/4” solid plate steel wall for lateral bracing create the
lightness of structure to enhance the sense of clarity.
Facade mock-up

Interior, Summer 2005
The mechanical system uses the cavity space as a temperature buffer, reusing the cooled air
of the galleries to cool the hot shops, and recycling the heat generated by glass ovens to heat
the cavity in the winter through coils embedded in the topping slab. Even the curtains in the
cavity fulfil a key role in the mechanical system.
The Glass Pavilion is the first US building designed by SANAA.

View from Monroe Street, Spring 2005
Drawing courtesy SANAA

Ground Floor Plan
Total area: 76,000 square feet

Site area: 218,700 square feet
Estimated completion: Spring 2006
arcspace Inauguration feature

Photo: arcspace
SANAA, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, invited the entire Tokyo office “the SANAA
family” to the inauguration of their first American building. The sun was out, the building
looked beautiful, and the atmosphere was joyfull.
Client: Toledo Museum of Art

Architects: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa/ SANAA
Owner’s representative: Paratus Group
Andrew Klemmer
Jon Maass
Associate in charge: Florian Idenburg
Project architects:
Toshi Oki
Takayuki Hasegawa
Project team:
Keiko Uchiyama
Mizuki Imamura
Tetsuo Kondo, Junya Ishigami
Executive architect: Kendall Heaton Associates
Larry Burns
Nobu Shoga
Structure: Guy Nordenson & Associates / SAPS
Mechanical engineers: Cosentini Associates/Transsolar
Glass consultant: Front Inc
Lighting: Arup / Kilt Planning
December 12, 2005
Inauguration
SANAA
Glass Pavilion
Toledo, Ohio
“One of the things we wanted to achieve with this project was to create an intimate
relationship between the inside and the outside, giving visitors the feeling of walking under the
trees...feeling the green atmosphere of the garden.”
SANAA
Photo: arcspace
The Glass Pavilion, an annex across the street from the Toledo Museum of Art, contains an
extensive glass art collection, temporary exhibition galleries and glass making facilities.
Because of its location, in a park at the southernmost end of a historical Victorian-style
housing district, It was necessary to consider both the preservation of the dense growth of
150-year old trees in the park and the surrounding historical neighborhood in conceiving the
design.
The building, designed by SANAA, is a low, single-story glass pavilion with a series of
courtyards open to the sky.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa took their entire Tokyo office to see the first completed
SANAA building in the US.
Photo: arcspace
September 4, 2006
SANAA
Competition Sketches
De Kunstlinié
Theatre and Cultural Centre
Almere, The Netherlands
A continuous set of rooms where there is no hierarchy and no apparent structure.
The sketches were made by Ryue Nishizawa during the competition phase of the De Kunstlinie’
Theatre and Cultural Centre. The sketches, made nearly seven years ago, were part of a
process toward discovering and illustrating a continuous set of rooms where there is no
hierarchy and no apparent structure. There is no difference between structure and partition or
circulation and program. The differences come not from spatial characteristics but from
proximity to water, light and adjacent rooms. Equally, where very unique spaces are required,
the building rises out of it’s uniform horizontality expressing specific parts of the program;
such as the theater.
The project is currently nearing completion and follows a logic not altogether different from
the expression of these first sketches. The opening is slated for early summer, 2007.
View Sketches
SANAA
21st Century Museum
Kanazawa, Japan
Circular in form, the building has no front or back, leaving it free to be explored from all
directions.
Photo: arcspace
The 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art is located in the center of Kanazawa, one of
the nation’s historical centers, on the north coast of Japan.
The building contains community gathering spaces, a library, lecture hall, children's workshop,
as well as museum spaces.
The variously proportioned rooms placed inside the circular building - the model based on a
chain of islands or an urban space - signify the centers that generate values originating in the
maldistribution of decentrism and polycentrism, and in remote regions.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
A walk inside along the curved glass of the exterior facade smoothly unfolds a 360 degrees
panorama of the site.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Four fully glazed internal courtyards, each unique in its character, provide ample daylight to
the center and a fluent border between public zone and museum zone.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
The exhibition area is fragmented into numerous galleries that are all embedded in the
circulation space; an approach that offers flexibility to the museum routing and, at the same
time, specificity to the gallery spaces.
The circulation spaces are also used as additional exhibition areas.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
The scattered location of the galleries provide transparency with views from the periphery into
the center and vistas through the entire depth of the building. The transparent corridors
encourage “coexistence” in which individuals remain autonomous while sharing personal space
with others.
Photo: arcspace
Photo: arcspace
Gallery spaces are of various proportions and light conditions - from bright daylight through
glass ceilings, with a black-out possibility, to spaces with no natural light source. Their height
range from 4 meters to 12 meters.
Plan courtesy SANAA

Ground Level Plan
The design that allows the visitor to decide on the route through the museum, combined with
the flexible gallery rooms that can adapt to every type of media, guarantees the trans-border
diversity of the programs that will be held in the space. The intention behind all of these
elements is to stimulate the visitor’s emerging awareness.
For a rest there is a row of SANAA “Rabbit” chairs inside, and a circle of SANAA “Drop” chairs
outside.
Plan courtesy SANAA
Plan courtesy SANAA
Site area: 26,000 square meters

Building area: 9,500 m2
Total Floor area: 17,300 square meters
Completed: 2004
Client: The City of Kanazawa

Archtitect: SANAA
Structural engineer: SSC/ Sasaki Structural consultants
Mechanical engineer: ES Associates
Electrical engineer: P.T.Morimura & Assoc., LTD
Landscape: SANAA
Furniture: SANAA

December 18, 2006
SANAA
New Museum
New York, NY
A glimmering metal mesh-clad stack of boxes shifted off axis in a dynamic composition.
Photo: Christian Richters
The New Museum is located on the Bowery at a pivotal geographic and cultural intersection
where generations of artists have lived, worked, and contributed to the ongoing cultural
dialogue of the nation.
The building, a dramatic stack of six rectangular boxes, is clad in a seamless, anodized
expanded aluminum mesh to emphasize the volumes of the boxes while dressing the whole of
the building with a delicate, softly shimmering skin.
With windows just visible behind this porous scrim-like surface, the building appears as a
single, coherent form that is nevertheless mutable, dynamic, and animated by the changing
light of day.
The distinctive form derives directly from the architect’s defining solution to the fundamental
challenges of their site and an ambitious program, including the need for open, flexible gallery
spaces of different heights and atmospheres, that had to be accommodated within a tight
zoning envelope on a 71 feet wide and 112 feet deep footprint.
In order to address these conditions without creating a monolithic, dark, and airless building,
SANAA assigned key programmatic elements to a series of levels (the six boxes), stacked
those boxes according to the anticipated needs and circulation patterns of building users, then
drew the different levels away from the vertebrae of the building core laterally to the north,
south, east, or west.
“The solution of the shifted boxes arrived quickly and intuitively. Then through trial and error
we arrived at the final, ideal configuration. Now we have a building that meets the city, allows
natural light inside, gives the Museum column-free galleries and programmatic flexibility, and
expresses the program and people inside to the world of New York outside.”
SANAA
Visitors are drawn into the New Museum by views through a nearly 15 foot-tall plane of clear
plate glass stretching across the full width of the building.
The lobby area, a transition from the color and buzz of the Bowery neighborhood, is a
luminous, pale space with polished gray concrete floors.
This grand but intimate Marcia Tucker Hall contains the New Museum Store, defined by a
serpentine screen of metal mesh, the Café.
The Joan and Charles Lazarus Gallery is separated from the rest of the space by a soaring
glass wall, and illuminated by daylight filtering down from the shift of the structural box
above.
A floating dropped screen of metal mesh softens and abstracts the largely visible functions of
the ceiling above it, filtering light from a grid of glowing but delicate florescent tubes.
From the lobby level visitors may choose a variety of paths upward or downward through the
building.
The 182-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theater, a “white box” theater with a pre-function hall that
doubles as a gallery for special projects, is located on the lower level.
The galleries on the buildings second, third, and fourth floors are all freed from columns by the
structural support of the core. The light in all the building’s galleries can be controlled through
a system of shades beneath the glass.
“With the galleries in this building, we tried to play with dimensions and the way daylight falls
in the spaces. This allows the visitor to experience art in slightly different conditions on
different visits, at different times of the day, in different spaces, without impeding the qualities
of the art.” SANAA

Photo: Dean Kaufman
An open stairway, running 50 feet upward along the building’s north side, connects the third
and fourth floors.

The structural steel makes frequent appearances throughout the building. The diagonal
structural beams of the exterior, appearing at interludes, are rendered white with spray-on
fireproofing material.
On the seventh floor of the building is the Toby Devan Lewis Sky Room for events and special
programs. Floor to ceiling glass offers panoramic vistas of the city and an outdoor terrace runs
without interruption around the east and south sides of the building.
Photo: Dean Kaufman
“Sejima and Nishizawa have conceived an ideal home for the New Museum of Contemporary
Art - a place that will encourage dialogue and creativity, catalyze community interaction, and
spark a constant exchange of insights and information. They have truly given form to our
passionate commitment to the importance of art to everyday life. On the Bowery, the New
Museum will continue our exploration of new art and new ideas with the same energy,
openness to experimentation, fearlessness, and pure excitement that brought us to this
remarkable milestone in the institution’s history.”
Lisa Phillips, Director
Setting precedent for exhibitions that will occupy its entire building, the New Museum
inaugurated the new building with ”Unmonumental,” an international survey on all three main
gallery floors that openened with sculpture by 30 artists from around the globe, then will
expand over the course of five months into a dense, teeming environmental experience
through the addition of layers of collage, sound, and Internet-based art.
Model photo courtesy SANAA

Model
Basement Plan

Second Floor Plan
Sixth Floor Plan

Seventh Floor Plan
Section
The New Museum opened to the public on Saturday, December 1, 2007.

Total Floor Area: 58,700 square feet
Photographed by Christian Richters

Contact: Christian Richters
Client: New Museum

Architects: SANAA
Principals: Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa
Chief Project Architect: Florian Idenburg
Project Architects:
Jonas Elding
Javier Haddad
Erika Hidaka,
Hiroaki Katagiri
Toshihiro Oki
Koji Yoshida,
Executive Architect: Gensler, New York

Principal: Madeline Burke-Vigeland
Project Manager: William Rice
Project Architects:
John Chow
Christopher Duisbeurg
Kristian Gregerson
Sohee Moon
Karen Pedrazzi
Will Rohde
Construction Management: Sciame
Structural Engineer: James C. Parker
Mechanical: Arup
Book
HOUSES
Publisher: Actar
Texts by: Agustin Pérez Rubio, Kristine Gúzman,
Luis Fernandez Galiano, Yuko Hasegawa
For the first time in publication, a collection of housing projects by SANAA. Both finished:
House A, S House, House in a Plum Grove, Small House and Moriyama House, and unfinished
projects: Flower House, Garden & House, Seijo Apartments, Ichikawa Apartments, House in
China and Eda Apartments.
SANAA's architecture embraces complexities within deceptively simple appearances. It has

many elements that are impossible to understand unless actually “experienced”. In contrast
with modern architecture, SANAA has many aspects that cannot be revealed in
“representative” media such as plans, models, and photographs. The “representations” of their
architectural works incorporate ambiguity and chronological elements. This characteristic
makes Sanaa one of the most innovative offices in the current architectural panorama.

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa © Designboom

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SANAA : kazuyo sejima + ryue nishizawa

kazuyo sejima and ryue nishizawa have been working

recent work include:

sejima and nishizawa have been awarded

what is the best moment of the day?

what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?

do you listen to the radio?

what books do you have on your bedside table?

do you have any preference in fashion?

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?

where do you work on your designs and projects?

which project has given you the most satisfaction?

who would you most like to design a building for?

do you discuss your work with other architects?

describe your style, like a good friend of yours

can you describe an evolution in your work from

is there any architects and/or designer from the

and those still working?

do you have any advice for the young?

what are you afraid regarding the future?

zollverein school of design, essen, germany (2003 - construction began 2005).

o museum, nagano, japan 1995-99.

kanazawa museum of contemporary art of the XXI century,

extension of the institute of modern art, valencia, spain (2002 - ).

civic center of onishi, gumma, japan (2003-05).

gifu kitagata apartments , gifu, japan (1994-2000)

21st Century Museum

The Architect’s Studio

ew Museum of Contemporary Art

“Our aim was to achieve transparency in the concrete structure.”

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

More information about the building in earlier arcspace feature.

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

Photo: © Thomas Mayer

Total area: ca. 5,000 square meters

Zollverein School of Management and Design

Follow the project in Photographer Thomas Mayer’s archive.

More information about the building in earlier arcspace feature.

SANAA arcspace features

“The design is like a burst of jazz in the middle of a classical composition.”

Inauguration July 31, 2006 arcspace feature

Image courtesy the Zollverein School

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Photo: Thomas Mayer

Ground Floor Plan courtesy SANAA

Section courtesy SANAA

Total area: app. 5,000 square meters

Client: Zollverein School

View the latest arcspace feature:

Follow the project with Photographer Thomas Mayer.

May 23. 2005

SANAA arcspace features

Image courtesy SANAA

Image courtesy SANAA

Image courtesy SANAA

Image courtesy SANAA

Image courtesy SANAA

Sketch courtesy SANAA

ew Museum of Contemporary Art