SANAA

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, a reflective stream. Rolex Learning Centre, a rolling landscape. New Museum, stacked mesh cubes. Moriyama house, a courtyard village. Japanese architects SANAA somehow manage to package complex ideas and distil them into an elegant outcome that walks that fine line between sculpture, architecture and play….and they make it look easy.

Established in 1995, SANAA (Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates) was founded by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. Somehow they balance gesture and craft. Heritage and innovation. A Japanese vernacular without being fake architecture. Honesty and simplicity. International yet distinctly local. Of all the characteristics, l think most impressive is their modesty. I’m not talking about ‘modesty’ in a personal sense but rather, their work isn’t driven by ego, being intentionally iconic or heroic but instead their projects have a confidence that comes with being incredibly good architects and critically, thoughtful.

Modest and confident.

Vitra Factory Building. Wilheim, Germany.

Modest: Vitra Factory Building.

This is not an opulent building. Its core idea is so simple that l can’t believe its never done before (as far as l am aware). This storage warehouse is a circular building, planned internally as a radial, spoke-like wheel in which trucks park around its perimeter (20,000m2 of total area) before goods are loaded and ‘shipped’ off. Supporting the planning, is the ingenious solution to hide all those ugly Services (like downpipes and sprinkler pipes), normally exposed on warehouse buildings. To conceal these pipes, SANNA wrapped a dual acrylic layer (one layer transparent, one layer opaque) cladding system around the building shell to not only hide the ugly stuff but also to ‘drape’ the building; softening it. This ‘draping’ acts to elevate the importance of the warehouse logistics, reinforcing Vitra’s desire to make all aspects of their business considered and thoughtful. Vitra fundamentally believes in the importance of design. Why make a dumb utilitarian warehouse, when it can be functional and beautiful?

Confident: Rolex Learning Centre

Gutsy move. A rolling interior landscape where students and collaborators of this learning centre can meander through the interior like they would a university campus or a Swiss meadow. This building seemingly redefines what is inside, outside, above and below. Flowing spaces break down the barriers of learning and provide an interconnected volume that supports collaboration, without being characterless. As a learning environment, what truly pushes this project to the edge is that it is so inspirational. Surely the best way to learn is to be inspired to learn.

Rolex Learning Centre, Lausanne, Switzerland.

The beauty of SANAA’s work is that l could be completely wrong about all of the above and it doesn’t really matter. The work of SANAA can be interpreted in so many ways. That’s not to say, it (the work) doesn’t have a position or that it’s bland but rather the opposite; it is strong and it has a humanity. The work of SANAA is accessible and a little playful and in a world of ‘serious’ architects and architecture, that’s always refreshing.

S.W

Channel Orange

Achilles