It is with a quiet confidence that the duo has swept the world off its feet with their distinctly minimalist, highly sensitive and thoughtful designs. SANAA’s extensive portfolio includes the playfully stacked building of the New Museum in New York, the circular production facility of the Vitra Campus, as well as the serene Louvre-Lens in France. 

Kazuyo Sejima, the feminine half of the internationally acclaimed designer duo, was born in 1956. She studied Architecture in Tokio where, after receiving her degree, she started working for the office of Toyo Ito. Not long after, Sejima opened her own studio. In 1992 she was named the Japan Institute of Architects’ Young Architect of the Year. One of the first people she employed in her practice was Ryue Nishizawa. Born in 1966, he graduated with a Master’s degree in Architecture at the Yokohama National University. As a student, Nishizawa had also worked for Toyo Ito, where he met Sejima. After working together for several years, the two formed the partnership Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates, or SANAA as it is known today.

The 2000’s have seen SANAA also delve into furniture and object design to accompany their buildings. Though a relatively compact assortment of designs ranging from seating to tableware, they exhibit an abundance of fun. SANAA’s finds the main source of inspiration in animals and nature. 

Also in 2010, Sejima set the tone for the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale with the theme People Meet in Architecture. A phrase as simple as can be, it marks culmination of her architectural thought, with which SANAA’s designs have quietly pervaded both densely populated metropolises and tranquil landscapes over the decades. It does away with concepts of overworked originality or personal expression and cuts straight to what she considers to be the essence of design. Ultimately, it is the human experience which matters the most. A crystal clear message that design is for the people.

SANAA’s work has emphatically reflected the idea that a building is not completed until it is inhabited. Some might regard the “white box” as unremarkable, sterile or even banal. But for others, it can truly be considered an elevated art form to create new spatial experiences with such a refined simplicity, ultimately changing our perception of what architecture is, or should be. SANAA’s is an architecture of subdued elegance, not distracting from, but instead elevating the very thing essential to a building – the life it houses and nurtures.