Short film about the recent opening of the New Museum of Contemporary Art. The principal architect, Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA is interviewed as well as Lisa Phillips, director of the museum, Lisa Roulmell, Museum Deputy Director & COO and Lisa Hoptmann, Senior Curator. The video highlights the activist history of the museum and the design of the new building and the opening exhibit, Unmonumental. Produced by Howard Silver for Bloomberg MUSE. Edited by Seth Karten, DP Scott Sinkler

Built on the campus of EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, The Rolex Learning Center designed by the internationally acclaimed Japanese architectural practice, SANAA, opened on 22 February 2010. If they need any more introduction, SANAA is the winner of the 2010 Pritzker Prize

Architects: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA
Client: Zollverein School
Location: Essen, Germany
Construction: March 2005 - July 2006
Project architect: Nicole Berganski, Böll & Krabel
Built area: 5.000sqm
Masterplan: Rem Koolhaas, OMA
Landscape: Agence Ter
Photos: Iwan Baan

The Zollverein Design School is located between a historical coalmining factory and a sprawling suburb. The building is a 35 meter cube, which, at the scale of the large neighboring factory buildings, stands in strong contrast to the finer suburban texture. Its intense presence announces the former factory grounds. Read the rest of this entry »

The 2010 Pritzker Prize goes to SANAA!

In praising SANAA’s “collaborative partnership,” the Pritzker jury noted that “it is virtually impossible to untangle which individual is responsible for what aspect of a particular project. Each building is ultimately a work that comes from the union of their two minds.”

Some of their most recent projects include:

• Zollverein School of Design – 2003 to 2006 - Essen, Germany
• Naoshima Ferry Terminal – 2003 to 2006 - Kagawa, Japan
• The New Museum of Contemporary Art – 2003 to 2007 - New York City, New York
• Novartis Office Building – 2003 to Present - Basel, Switzerland
• House for the CIPEA (China International Practical Exhibition of Architecture) – 2004 to Present - Nanjing, China
• Rolex Learning Center at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – 2004 to Present - Lausanne, Switzerland
• Serpentine Gallery Pavilion – 2009 - London, England
• The Learning Center (at EPFL) – 2010 - Lausanne, Switzerland

The architects will receive the award, which includes a $100,000 cash prize, in a May 17 ceremony on Ellis Island in New York. They join Kenzo Tange (1987), Fumihiko Maki (1993) and Tadao Ando (1995) as Pritzker laureates from Japan.