is a Japanese

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and director of her own firm, Kazuyo Sejima & Associates. In 1995, she co-founded the firm

SANAA Sanaa, officially the Sanaa Municipality, is the ''de jure'' capital and largest city of Yemen. The city is the capital of the Sanaa Governorate, but is not part of the governorate, as it forms a separate administrative unit. At an elevation ...

(Sejima + Nishizawa & Associates). In 2010, Sejima was the second woman to receive the

Pritzker Prize The Pritzker Architecture Prize is an international award presented annually "to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment which has produced consisten ...

, which was awarded jointly with Nishizawa. They were only the second partnership to be honored with this prize.

Early life and education

Sejima was born on 29 October 1956 in

Mito, Ibaraki is the capital city of Ibaraki Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 268,036 in 126,055 households and a population density of 1,233 persons per km2. The percentage of the population aged ...

, Japan. Her mother, although not employed, was highly educated; her father was a welding engineer. Sejima graduated from

Japan Women's University is the oldest and largest of private Japanese women's universities. The university was established on 20 April 1901 by education reformist . The university has around 6000 students and 200 faculty. It has two campuses, named after the neighbo ...

in 1979. She then went on to complete the Master's Degree course in architecture in 1981. In the same year, she began working with the architecture firm Toyo Ito and Associates until 1987.

Career

After apprenticing with

Toyo Ito is a Japanese architect known for creating conceptual architecture, in which he seeks to simultaneously express the physical and virtual worlds. He is a leading exponent of architecture that addresses the contemporary notion of a "simulated ...

, Sejima established Kazuyo Sejima & Associates in 1987. One of her first hires was Ryue Nishizawa, a student who had worked with Sejima at Toyo Ito and Associates. After working for Sejima for several years, Sejima asked him to form a partnership. In 1995, the two founded the

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

-based firm

(Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates). In 2010, Sejima was appointed director of architecture sector for the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, which she curated for the 12th Annual International Architecture Exhibition. She was the first woman ever selected for this position. In 2010, she was awarded the

, together with Ryue Nishizawa.Pritzker Prize 2010 Media Kit
, retrieved 29 March 2010

Major works

* Saishunkan Seiyaku Women's Dormitory,

Kumamoto is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Kumamoto Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. , the city has an estimated population of 738,907 and a population density of 1,893 people per km2. The total area is 390.32 km2. had a populat ...

, Japan (1990–1991) * Competition for Nasunogahara Harmony Hall (1991) * Competition for Chuya Nakahara Memorial Museum (1992) * Gifu Kitagata Apartment,

Gifu is a Cities of Japan, city located in the south-central portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan, and serves as the prefectural capital. The city has played an important role in Japan's history because of its location in the middle of the country. Durin ...

, Japan (1994) * Multi Media Studio,

Ōgaki is a city located in Gifu, Japan. As of October 31, 2018, the city had an estimated population of 161,539, and a population density of 782 persons per km2 in 65,931 households. The total area of the city was . Ōgaki was the final destination fo ...

, Japan (1995) * Competition for New Campus Center for Illinois Institute of Technology (1997-1998) * 'De Kunstlinie' Theatre and Cultural Centre,

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

, Netherlands (1998–2007) * SANAA’s

21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa The is a museum of contemporary art located in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan. The museum was designed by Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the architectural office SANAA in 2004. In October 2005, one year after its openin ...

, Japan (1999–2004) * Isetan, Tokyo, Japan (2000) * Lee Garden, Hong Kong, China (2000-2001) * House in Plum Grove (2001-2003) * Glass Pavilion of the

Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...

, Toledo,

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, USA (2001–2006) * Extension of the Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM),

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Spain (2002–present) * DIOR Tokyo Omotesando Store, Tokyo, Japan (2003) * Bairin no le, Japan (2003) * Zollverein School of Management and Design,

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

, Germany (2003-2006) * Naoshima Ferry Terminal,

Naoshima is an island in Japan's Seto Inland Sea, part of Kagawa Prefecture. The island is best known for its many contemporary art installations and museums. The administers Naoshima and 26 smaller islands nearby. As of 2020, the town has an estimated ...

, Kagawa, Japan (2003–2006) *

New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art is a museum at 235 Bowery, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-name ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, USA (2003–2007) *

Towada Art Center The is an art museum in Towada, Aomori Prefecture, Japan. The museum was opened in 2008 as part of the Arts Towada Project, in an effort to revitalize the city. It features works from artists both inside and outside of Japan, including Yoko Ono, ...

, Towada, Japan (2005–2008) * Rolex Learning Center,

École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (, EPFL) is a public university, public research university in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 1969 with the mission to "train talented engineers in Switzerland". Like its sister institution E ...

(EPFL), Switzerland (2005–2009) * Inujima Art House project, Okayama, Japan (began 2008) * Serpentine Pavilion at Serpentine Galleries, London, UK (2009) * Louvre-Lens in

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device that focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements'') ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(2012) *

La Samaritaine La Samaritaine (French pronunciation: a samaʁitɛn is a large department store in the first arrondissement of Paris; the nearest metro station is Pont-Neuf. Founded in 1870 by Ernest Cognacq, it is now owned by the luxury goods conglomerate ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France (2020) * Sydney Modern (extension of the Art Gallery of New South Wales), Australia, 2022

Bibliography

*GA (2005). ''Sejima Kazuyo + Nishizawa Ryue Dokuhon''. A.D.A. Edita. *GA (2005). ''GA ARCHITECT 18 Sejima Kazuyo + Nishizawa Ryue''. A.D.A. Edita. *Yuko Hasegawa (2005). ''Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA'', Electa. *Yuko Hasegawa (2006). ''Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa: SANAA''.

Phaidon Press Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional of ...

. * Agustin Perez Rubio (2007). ''SANAA Houses: Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa''. Actar. *Joseph Grima and Karen Wong (Eds) (2008) ''Shift: SANAA and the New Museum''. Lars Müller Publishers. *Thomas Daniell (2008). ''After the Crash: Architecture in Post-Bubble Japan''.

Princeton Architectural Press Princeton Architectural Press (now PA Press) is a division of Chronicle Books. Founded by Kevin Lippert in 1981 in Princeton, NJ, PA Press has been a leading publisher of books on architecture, design, and visual culture for over forty years, ...

Awards and honours

* 1989 – Special Prize for Residential Architecture, Tokyo Architecture Association * 1990 – SD Prize, SD Review * 1992 – Second Prize, Commercial Space Design Award * 1995 – Kenneth F. Brown Asia Pacific Culture and Architecture Design Award, the University of Hawaii (for Saishunkan Seiyaku Women’s Dormitory) 98oi * 2005 –

Rolf Schock Prize The Rolf Schock Prizes were established and endowed by bequest of philosopher and artist Rolf Schock (1933–1986). The prizes were first awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1993 and, since 2005, are awarded every three years. It is sometimes conside ...

in Visual Arts * 2010 –

* 2019 – Prix Versailles World Judge * 2022 –

Praemium Imperiale Prince Takamatsu The Praemium Imperiale () is an international art prize inaugurated in 1988 and awarded since 1989 by the Imperial family of Japan on behalf of the Japan Art Association in the fields of painting, sculpture, architecture, mu ...

award for architecture * 2024 –

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honour which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

. * 2025 – RIBA royal gold medal for architecture.

References

External links

SANAA Official Website

2010 Pritzker prizeRyue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima win 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize
fastcompany.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Sejima, Kazuyo 1956 births Living people 20th-century Japanese architects Pritzker Architecture Prize winners Rolf Schock Prize laureates Japanese women architects 21st-century Japanese architects Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Japan Women's University alumni Persons of Cultural Merit Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal