Kazuyo Sejima

Kazuyo Sejima ( 妹島 和世 , Sejima Kazuyo, born 29 October 1956)

Kazuyo Sejima
is a Japanese architect. She is known for designs with clean modernist
elements such as shiny surfaces, squares and cubes. Along with and
Ryue Nishizawa, she has worked on several projects in Germany,
Switzerland, France, England, the Netherlands, United States, and
Spain. Many of their designs like the Rolex Learning Center at EPFL
the New Museum in the Bowery District in New York City as well as
the Glass Pavilion for the Toledo Museum of Art involve large
windows and public open space to interact with the world around the
architecture. In 2010, Sejima was the second woman to receive the
Pritzker Prize, which was awarded jointly with Nishizawa.[1]

Contents
Early life and education
Sejima in September 2014
Career
Born 29 October 1956
Approach Hitachi, Ibaraki
Projects by Kazuyo Sejima and Associates / by SANAA Prefecture, Japan
Honors and recognition Nationality Japanese
Professorship Occupation Architect
See also Awards Kajima Prize 1988
References Yosioka Prize 1989
Special Prize for
External links
Residential
Architecture 1989
SD Prize 1990
Early life and education Commercial Space
Design Award,
Sejima was born on 29 October 1956 in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan. She
graduated from Japan Women's University in 1979. She then went on Second Prize 1992
to complete the Master's Degree course in architecture in 1981. In the Young Architect of
same year, she began working with the architecture firm Toyo Ito and the Year 1992
Associates until 1987.[2] Commercial Space
Design Award 1994
Career Kenneth F. Brown
Pacific Culture and
After apprenticing with Toyo Ito, Sejima established Kazuyo Sejima Architecture Design
& Associates in 1987. One of her first hires was Ryue Nishizawa, a Award 1995
student who had worked with Sejima at Toyo Ito and Associates.[3] Schelling
After working for Sejima for several years, Sejima asked him to form Architekturpreis 2000
a partnership. In 1995, the two founded the Tokyo-based firm Rolf Schock Prize
SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates).[4] In 2010, Sejima
was appointed director of architecture sector for the Venice Biennale, 2005
which she curated for the 12th Annual International Architecture Pritzker Prize 2010
Exhibition. She was the first woman ever selected for this position.[5]
In 2010, she was awarded the Pritzker Prize, together with Ryue Practice Kazuyo Sejima and
Nishizawa.[6] Associates (1987–
1995)
SANAA (since 1995)
Approach
Sejima's work tends to incorporate materials such as glass or slick surfaces such as marble. Her buildings
mainly display an arrange of curves within the architecture of the building as well as on the surface. Kazuyo
successfully combines the building with the surrounding areas. The use of a lot of sheer glasses and clear glass
is used, allowing natural light to enter a space and create a fluid transition between interior and exterior. It lets a
person to look at the outdoors, while also looking at themselves and the reflections the outside world creates
on the inside of the building.[7][8]

Sejima intentionally overturns outmoded stereotypical housing models as they are based on assumptions
instead of reality. These assumptions include housing models that illustrate the proper living condition for a
nuclear family, etc. Her idea is not to initiate a complete rejection to tradition, but rather to challenge the
conventional process of design. Instead of unconsciously applying assumptions to a design, she tries to
confront them consciously as best as she can. She thinks it is impossible to let a building completely based on a
fictional idea or theory of what something should be.[9]

Sejima redefines the "design process" as "process designs". Processes are documented, accumulation of design
operations are taken into account rather than gradually refine a single design idea towards the final stage.
During the design process of Hokusai Museum in Sumida Ward (Tokyo), sequence of 1:200 scale models
were produced for the schematic design phase and photographed. Two periods of proposal production (21
days), materials used, elaboration dates, and the date when meeting were held were all in the record as part of
the justification of the design process.[10]

Projects by Kazuyo Sejima and Associates / by SANAA

Platform I Vacation House – 1987 to 1988 – Chiba
Prefecture, Japan
Platform II Studio – 1988 to 1990 – Kitakoma-gun,
Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Platform III House (Not built/project only) – 1989 to 1990 –
Meguro-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Europalia Japan Transfiguration (Exhibit design) – 1989 –
Bruxelles, Belgium[2]
Castelbajac Sports Store – 1990 to 1991 – Kanagawa,
Japan
Saishunkan Seiyaku Women's Dormitory – 1990 to 1991 –
Kumamoto, Japan
Prototype of the Apartmenthouse I – 1991 – Suita, Osaka[2]
N House – 1990 to 1992 – Kumamoto, Japan
An Apartment Building (Not built/project only) – 1991 – Police box outside Chofu Station in
Osaka, Japan Tokyo (1993–94)
Nasumoahara Harmony Hall (Not built/project only) – 1991
– Tochigi, Japan
Pachinko Parlor I – 1991 to 1993 – Ibaraki, Japan
Villa in the Forest – 1992 to 1994 – Nagano, Japan
Pachinko Parlor II – 1993 – Ibaraki, Japan
Berio Corina Tomobe (Project) – 1993 – Tomobe, Ibaraki
Prefecture[2]
Reengineering ( Exhibition Design) – 1993 – Minato-ku,
Tokyo[2]
Y House – 1993 to 1994 – Chiba, Japan
Police box outside Chofu Station – 1993 to 1994 – Tokyo,
Japan Sumida Hokusai Museum.Tokyo,
Japan(2016)
World City Expo Tokyo (Project) – 1995 – Koto-ku, Tokyo[2]
Service Center at the Tokyo Expo 96 (Not built/project only)
– 1994 to 1995 – Tokyo, Japan
Yokohama International Port Terminal (Not built/project only) – 1994 – Kanagawa, Japan
Gifu Kitagata Apartment Building – 1994 to 2000 – Gifu, Japan
Pachinko Parlor III – 1995 to 1996 – Ibaraki, Japan
Multimedia Workshop – 1995 to 1996 – Gifu, Japan[2] *as SANAA
S-House – 1996 to 1997 – Okayama, Japan *as SANAA
U Office Building – 1996 to 1998 – Ibaraki, Japan
N-Museum – 1997– Nakahechi, Nishimuro-gun, Wakayama Prefecture[2] *as SANAA
M-House – 1997– Tokyo[2] *as SANAA
K-Building – 1997– Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture[2] *as SANAA
Day Care Center – 1997 to 2000 – Kanazawa, Japan *as SANAA
Gifu Kitagata Apartment – 1998– Kitagata, Motosu-gun, Gifu Prefecture[2]
Koga Park Cafe – 1998– Koga, Ibaraki, Japan [2] *as SANAA
O-Museum – 1999– Iida, Nagano Prefecture[2] *as SANAA
Small House – 1999 to 2000 – Tokyo, Japan
Kozankaku Student Residence – 1999 to 2000 – Ibaraki, Japan
hhstyle.com Store – 1999 to 2000 – Tokyo, Japan
La Biennale di Venezia, 7th International Architecture Exhibition "City of girls" Japanese
Pavilion – 2000– Venice, Italy *as SANAA
PRADA Beauty Prototype – 2000– *as SANAA
Asahi Shimbun Yamagata Office Building – 2000 to 2002 – Yamagata, Japan
PRADA Beauty LEEGARDEN Hong Kong – 2001– Hong Kong, China *as SANAA
Garden Cafe at the 7th International Istanbul Biennale – 2001– Istanbul, Turkey *as SANAA
House in a Plum Grove – 2001 to 2003 – Tokyo, Japan
ISSEY MIYAKE by NAOKI TAKIZAWA – 2003– Tokyo, Japan *as SANAA
Christian Dior Building Omotesando – 2003– Tokyo, Japan *as SANAA
Onishi Civic Center – 2003 to 2005 – Gunma, Japan
21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art Kanazawa – 2004– Kanazawa Japan *as SANAA
Zollverein School of management and design – 2006– Essen, Germany *as SANAA
The Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion – 2006– Toledo, Ohio, USA *as SANAA
Novartis Campus WSJ-158 Office Building – 2006– Basel, Switzerland *as SANAA
Theater and Artscentre (Stadstheater Almere 'De Kunstlinie') – 2007 – Almere, The
Netherlands *as SANAA
New Museum - 2007- New York City, United States *as SANAA
 Derek Lam NY, shop interior (Crosby Street), – 2009 – New York, USA *as SANAA
Serpentine Pavilion – 2009 – London, England *as SANAA
Rolex Learning Center, EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) – 2009 –
Lausanne, Switzerland *as SANAA
Derek Lam NY, shop interior (Madison Avenue) – 2010 – USA *as SANAA
Shibaura House - 2011 - Tokyo, Japan
Shakujii Apartment – 2010 – Tokyo, Japan *as SANAA
Louvre-Lens – 2012 – Lens, France *as SANAA
Home-for-All Higashimatsushima City Miyato Island – 2012 – Miyagi, Japan *as SANAA
Vitra Factory Building – 2013 – Weil am Rhein, Germany *as SANAA
Okayama University Junko Fukutake Hall – 2013 – Okayama, Japan *as SANAA
Okayama University Pergola – 2014 – Okayama, Japan *as SANAA
Home-for-All Miyato Island Tsukihama – 2014 –Miyagi, Japan *as SANAA
Grace Farms - 2015 - 365 Lukes Wood Rd, New Canaan, CT 06840, United States *as SANAA

Japan

Sumida Hokusai Museum - 2016 - Tokyo, Japan

Naoshima Port - 2016 - Okayama, Japan *as SANAA
Shogin TACT Tsuruoka – 2017 – Yamagata, Japan *as SANAA
Laview (New limited express trains for Seibu Railway), – 2017 – Japan[11]
Apartments on Ave. Maréchal Fayolle – 2018 – Paris, France *as SANAA
Hitachi City Hall – 2019 – Ibaraki, Japan *as SANAA
Japan Women’s University Mejiro Campus, Library – 2019 – Tokyo, Japan

Honors and recognition

Kazuyo Sejima

1988 – Kashima Prize, SD Review 1988 (for Platform I, Platform II)

1989 – Yosioka Prize, The Japan Architect (for Platform I)
1989 – Special Prize for Residential Architecture, Tokyo Architecture Association[2]
1990 – SD Prize, SD Review[2]
1992 – Young Architect of the Year, Japan Institute of Architects (for Saishunkan Seiyaku
Women’s Dormitory)
1992 – Second Prize, Commercial Space Design Award[2]
1994 – Grand Prize, Commercial Space Design Award ’94 (for Pachinko Parlor I, Pachino
Parlor II)
1995 – Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award, University of
Hawaii (for Saishunkan Seiyaku Women’s Dormitory) 98oi[2]
2006 – Japan Architecture Award (for House in Plum Grove)
2007 – International Fellowship of RIBA/Royal Institute of British Architects
2009 – StellaRe Prize, Turin, Italy
2009 – Erna Hamburger Prize, Lausanne, Switzerland
2009 – Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, France
2019 – Prix Versailles World Judge[12]
SANAA

1998 – Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo, Japan (for Multimedia Workshop, Ogaki,
Gifu)
2000 – Erich Schelling Architecture Prize, Kalsruhe, Germany
2002 – Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture, American Academy of Arts & Letters,
New York
2002 – Architecture Award of Salzburg Vincenzo Scamozzi, Salzburg, Austria
2004 – Golden Lion for the Most Remarkable Work in the Exhibition Metamorph in the 9th
International Architecture Exhibition, la Biennale di Venezia
2005 – 46th Mainichi Newspapers Arts Award, Architecture Category (for 21st Century
Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)
2005 – Rolf Schock Prize in Visual Arts, Sweden
2006 – Prize of Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo, Japan (for 21st Century Museum of
Contemporary Art, Kanazawa)
2007 – Premio Mario Pani 2007 (Mario Pani Award), Mexico City, Mexico
2007 – Kunstpreis Berlin (Berlin Art Prize), Berlin, Germany
2010 – Pritzker Architecture Prize 2010, U.S.A.

Professorship
Sejima teaches as a Visiting Professor, both at Tama Art University and Japan Women's University in Tokyo.
In Vienna she leads an architectural design studio[13] at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, where she
succeeded Zaha Hadid in 2015. From 2005 to 2008, together with Nishizawa, she held the Jean Labatut
Professorship at the School of Architecture at Princeton University, where she also served on the advisory
council for several years. Kazuyo Sejima has also taught at the Polytechnique de Lausanne and Keio
University.

See also
Women in architecture

References
1. Nonie Niesewand (March 2015). "Through the Glass Ceiling" (http://www.dsdha.co.uk/gridfs/57
56b92400dd7c0003000024). Architectural Digest.
2. Yoshida, Nobuyuki (Fall 1999). "Kazuyo Seijima: Profile". The Japan Architect. 35: 126–127.
3. "Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa | biography - Japanese architects" (http://www.britannica.
com/biography/Kazuyo-Sejima-and-Ryue-Nishizawa). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved
15 October 2015.
4. "Kazuyo Sejima & Ryue Nishizawa Successes stack up for Tokyo design duo: Sanaa
interviewed by Japan Times" (http://architecturalinterviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/kazuyo-sejim
a-ryue-nishizawa-successes.html). architectural interviews. 28 December 2009. Retrieved
15 October 2015.
5. Rain Embuscado (4 October 2016). "10 Female Designers Breaking the Mold" (https://news.art
net.com/art-world/female-designers-breaking-the-mold-671504). ArtNet.
6. Pritzker Prize 2010 Media Kit (http://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/2010/textmediakit.html)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20111003012819/http://www.pritzkerprize.com/laureates/
2010/textmediakit.html) 3 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 29 March 2010
 7. "Essay: Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa | The Pritzker Architecture Prize" (http://www.pritz
kerprize.com/2010/essay). www.pritzkerprize.com. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
8. "The World's Most Anticipated Architecture: Rolex Learning Center - BusinessWeek" (https://w
ww.bloomberg.com/ss/10/03/0301_most_anticipated_architecture/10.htm). Businessweek.com.
Retrieved 9 March 2016.
9. Sejima, Kazuyo. Kazuyo Sejima, 1988-1996. Ed. C. Levene and Fernando Marquez Cecilia.
Barcelona: El Croquis, 1996. Print.
10. Provencio, Marta Alonso; Almazán, Jorge (March 2011). "Designing the process: scale models
in the work of Kazuyo Sejima and Sou Fujimoto". ArchNet-IJAR. 5 (1): 22–36.
ProQuest 862364062 (https://search.proquest.com/docview/862364062).
11.⻄武鉄道 2018年度に新型特急⾞輌導⼊ (http://rail.hobidas.com/news/info/article/_2018.html)
[Seibu Railway to introduce new limited express trains in fiscal 2018]. Tetsudo Hobidas (in
Japanese). Japan: Neko Publishing Co., Ltd. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
12. Prix Versailles website (http://www.prix-versailles.com/world-jury-2019)
13. "Studio Sejima Vienna" (http://studio-sejima-vienna.com/). studio-sejima-vienna.com.
Retrieved 9 July 2018.

External links
SANAA Official Website (http://www.sanaa.co.jp) (in Japanese)
Kazuyo Sejima appointed as Director of the Architecture Sector for the Biennale di Venezia. (htt
ps://web.archive.org/web/20100413112424/http://www.labiennale.org/en/architecture/news/seji
ma.html)[permanent dead link]
STORIES OF HOUSES: House in a Plum Grove (Tokyo), by Kazuyo Sejima (http://storiesofhou
ses.blogspot.com/2006/12/coming-soon-house-in-plum-grove-in.html)
2010 Pritzker prize (https://web.archive.org/web/20160314125541/http://www.pritzkerprize.com/
2010/works)
Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima win 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize (http://www.fastcomp
any.com/1599496/new-museum-architects-ryue-nishizawa-kazuyo-sejima-win-pritzker-prize)
fastcompany.com
The world's most anticipated architecture: Rolex learning center (https://www.bloomberg.com/s
s/10/03/0301_most_anticipated_architecture/10.htm)[permanent dead link]
Inventing new hierarchies (http://www.pritzkerprize.com/2010/essay)
Gallery MA (2003). Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA Works 1995–2003 (http://www.t
oto.co.jp/bookshop/app/detail.cgi?ID=A0224)[permanent dead link]. Toto Shuppan. ISBN 978-4-
88706-224-5
GA (2005). Sejima Kazuyo + Nishizawa Ryue Dokuhon (https://web.archive.org/web/20100403
082339/http://www.ga-ada.co.jp/english/ga_architect/index1.html). A.D.A. Edita. ISBN 4-87140-
662-8
GA (2005). GA ARCHITECT 18 Sejima Kazuyo + Nishizawa Ryue (https://web.archive.org/we
b/20100403082339/http://www.ga-ada.co.jp/english/ga_architect/index1.html). A.D.A. Edita.
ISBN 4-87140-426-9
Yuko Hasegawa (2005). Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA (http://www.electaweb.it/c
atalogo/scheda/978883703919/it), Electa. ISBN 978-88-370-3919-6
Yuko Hasegawa (2006). Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa: SANAA (https://web.archive.org/w
eb/20091009001105/http://www.phaidon.com/Default.aspx/Web/kazuyo-sejima-ryue-nishizawa
-sanaa-9781904313403). Phaidon Press. ISBN 978-1-904313-40-3
Agustin Perez Rubio (2007). SANAA Houses: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa (http://www.a
ctar.com/index.php?
 option=com_dbquery&task=ExecuteQuery&qid=2&idllibre=3695&lang=en). Actar. ISBN 978-
84-96540-70-5
Joseph Grima and Karen Wong (Eds) (2008) Shift: SANAA and the New Museum. Lars Müller
Publishers. ISBN 978-3-03778-140-1
Thomas Daniell (2008). After the Crash: Architecture in Post-Bubble Japan (http://papress.com/
html/book.details.page.tpl?cart=1255929480191322&isbn=9781568987767). Princeton
Architectural Press. ISBN 978-1-56898-776-7
New Museum (https://web.archive.org/web/20111208094028/http://www.newmuseum.org/abou
t/new_building)

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