Office: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / S A N A A
Client: Fondazione Prada
Location: Milan
Built project
The exhibition “Paraventi: Folding Screens from the 17th to the 21st Centuries,” curated by Nicholas Cullinan, investigates the histories of folding screens, gathering more than seventy pieces, including valuable historical objects, more recent works, and a selection of new creations commissioned to international artists displayed on in Fondazione Prada Milan.
Our concept is to create two different environments for the two floors of The exhibition space. On the Podium’s (GF), curved transparent acrylic partitions, alternating with sinuous curtains to protect the most delicate screens, simulate the shapes of these objects and create a series of spaces with different lights and atmospheres. The layout articulates a continuous, fluid path where visitors are confronted with thematic groups and where the transparency of the partitions allows for a changing but constant visual connection to the whole space.
On the upper floor, the exhibition space displays the overall history of the screens, which are arranged in chronological order on shaped and customized pedestals that emphasize each specific paravent shape and uniqueness.
LUX diagram Categories and circulation
231024_SANAA_PRF
S.I.T
Stations and ski facilities
Year: 2021 - 2023
Office: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / S A N A A
Client: S.I.T.
S.p.A.
Location: Ponte di Legno, Italy
Competition/ Schematic Desing / Detail Design
With a selected number of international offices, SANAA was called into a competition to propose a design solution that enriches the ski infrastructure and facilities serving the area of Ponte di Legno, Italy. The main objective was to expand the existing skiing facilities with four new stations and recreational spaces.
Our proposal rose from the mighty landscape and the traditional architectural heritage, creating a sequence of four roofs that establish a fil rouge and a dialogue.
The roof covering the station machinery smoothly curves down to protect from the strong wind and then moves up to open the view to the panorama. This continuous movement spins around, creating a unique façade that allows the landscape to enter the building and vice versa.
The relation with the surroundings is also enhanced by the variation of the floor level, extending the topography sometimes in a sequence of terraces or stretching the topography’s slope.
Discesa
Caffe (L2)
Restaurant (L1)
ESSELUNGA
Welfare project
Year: 2021 - 2023
Year: 2019 - on going
Office: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / S A N A A
Client: Esselunga. S.p.A.
Location: Pioltello (Mi), Italy
Competition/ Schematic Desing / Detail Design
The “Welfare Project” concept is to create an environment dedicated to the well-being of all employees, both supporting human relationships and interaction between people and nature. This building is located in a park and combines extensive plazas with moments of intimacy.
We designed a horizontal volume that dialogues with the surrounding green areas. The roof sits on pilotis, and the facades of the interior spaces are fully glazed. The curved geometry softens the boundary between the interior and exterior, and the courtyards bring daylight to the centre of the project. Privacy is enhanced by the shape of the roof, which dips down to 2.1m at the junction between programmes.
At ground level we have introduced a series of independent spaces that activate the plaza and spill outside: a gallery and multipurpose room, a gym, a medical centre and a nursery. These programs are both independent of one another and connected by a large roof.
Canale di gronda con griglia a filo finitura
Ciclo di finitura e impermeabilizzazione tipo Mapei:
Finitura Mapecoat PU 20 N color grigio da campionare
Membrana ibrida poliureica Purtop 500 Primer SN + Quarzo Eventuale preparazione e rasatura con malta Planitop
Massetto in calcestruzzo armato di protezione, sp. min 12 cm
Strato di prima impermeabilizzazione / barriera al vapore (bituminosa, PVC...)
Solaio strutturale in CA, sp. 30 cm
Canale a feritoia di estremità
Buttafuori del canale a feritoia, Ø40 mm (da verificare), passo da verificare
Frontale copertura in CA facciavista
Intradosso solaio in CA facciavista
Controsoffitto in fase di definizione, continuo, posato a 5 cm di distanza dall'intradosso del solaio di copertura
Colonna in acciaio
Tende interne (nell'Asilo previsti due ordini di tende)
Facciata vetrata continua, senza montanti, a tutta altezza da pavimento a intradosso solaio di copertura
Stratigrafia tipologica PT Interno
Griglia perimetrale per aerazione vespaio e per manutenzione / sostituzione vetri
Pavimentazione in ghiaia stabilizzata (da verificare)
35 15
Intercapedine ventilazione vespaio
STR in CA tradizionale
Risvolto verticale dell'isolamento per evitare / limitare il ponte termico
STR in CA tradizionale
Strato drenante di protezione tipo Enkadrain
Impermeabilizzazione con primo strato di guaina bituminosa e secondo strato di guaina antiradice
Griglia di protezione
Collettore di scarico a perdere
Sovrapposizione dell'mpermeabilizzazione con la struttura in vasca bianca
Tubo perimetrale drenante
STR in vasca bianca
Intercapedine ventilazione vespaio
Keisen Jogakue
New Hall Year: 2023
Office: KSA Kazuyo Sejima and Associates
Client: Keisen Jogakuen
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Competition - 1st Prize
This project proposes a new hall for Keisen Jogakuen that serves as a symbolic, inclusive, and flexible space—designed like a “home for everyone.” The plan integrates with existing school structures through terraces and semi-outdoor corridors, forming a unified courtyard and circulation system. With a curved, gentle form and soft gray brick exterior, the hall fosters warmth and accessibility. It features a 1,200-seat auditorium designed for both school functions and community use, with acoustically tuned curved walls and sustainable structural elements. The design emphasizes environmental consciousness through energy-efficient systems, natural ventilation, rooftop greening, and carbon reduction materials. Multiple foyers encourage spontaneous gatherings and cross-grade interaction among students. The building’s form and function support daily student life, morning worship, and public events while maintaining barrier-free access and disaster resilience. As a campus centerpiece, it reflects Keisen’s past and future, creating an inviting educational and spiritual hub for students, faculty, and the community.
BAHRAIN PARKING PLOT D
Pearl path Bahrain
Year: 2021
Office: Christian Kerez
Client: Bahrain Authority of Culture and Antiques
Location: Muharraq, Bahrain
Detail Design phase
The four car parks are part of the Pearl Path project by the Ministry of Culture of Bahrain. The exposed load bearing structure of the buildings cover the large open voids in the dense medieval urban structure of Muhrrque city.
The four car parks follow the same design principles in different ways on the four plots.
The slabs bend and slop merging into each other creating ramps for cars and visitors but also responding to the horizontal loads. These continuous structures crate a ever-changing space and a constant change of spatial experience.
Plot D is the smallest but the most exposed and therefore the most sculptural vertical expression. The unique location and appearance of the Parking garage can be used for street theatre or for concerts, but also for open-air prayers and markets.
SERPENTINE PAVILION
A
canopy that alludes to nature
Year: 2019
Office: Junya Ishigami + Associates
Client: Serpentine Galley
Location: London, England
Schematic Design/ Detail Design/ Construction
2019 Junya Ishigami office was selected to design a pavilion in front of the Serpentine Gallery in London. Our idea was to create something that would blend in any location of the earth due to the temporality of the pavilion. In the first stages of the concepts, we focus on researching architectural methods shared across diverse regions of the world and finding a shared and spontaneous way of building a shelter. A simple process which uses the parts of the natural world in their unadulterated form assembled with simple methods. By doing so, the architecture and the earth’s natural landscape formed a unified environment. Thus, the concept was to create a new landscape using methods and materials that have endured since ancient times.
A big roof made of dark stone from North England descends on the landscape like a landing bird. The slender columns support the heavy roof with its 61 tons and, at the same time, blend in with London’s rain. On top of the metal mesh, the crushed natural stones lie in different shapes and sizes, creating a stone landscape. The mass gently shades rainwater without the use of any waterproof material.
HOUSE OF RITUALS
A Journey between the borders of seeing
Year: 2019 - 2020
Type: Individual project
Course: Master Architecture, Building and Planning University: Technological University of Eindhoven
Tutors: Jacob Voorthuis, Sjef Van Hoof and Jan Schevers
In 2020, I master graduated with the Thesis “House of Rituals”. The research was divided into two books and concluded with a design exercise.
The first part of the work focuses on analyzing theories regarding the origin of architecture and how humanity bound its existence onto the earth through space and architecture. Through case studies, the research underlines a connection in the disappearance process of the physical dimension and how death, memory, and celebration become a tissue that connects humankind despite the geographical location and cultural backgrounds.
The work’s second part focuses on how these eternal topics, linked to humans, memory and death, have been marginalized and forgotten and how, on the other hand, the phenomena of suicidal behaviour have risen, according to the WHO World Health Assembly.
Interest in the utility of architecture and answering the questions: Can space affect human behaviour, emotional sphere, and build relationships? I consequently developed the design strategy “House of Rituals”.
A spatial solution based on rituals and primary sensory experiences that aim to awaken a sleeping consciousness again for two types of inhabitants: terminally ill and suicidal behaviour patients.
WOMB Public FIREPLACE Social WELL Personal CAVE Intimate
