Kazuyo Sejima

Who is Kazuyo Sejima?

Kazuyo Sejima is a Japanese architect. After studying at Japan Women's University and working at the office of Toyo Ito, in 1987, she founded Kazuyo Sejima and Associates. In 1995, she founded the Tokyo-based firm SANAA together with her former employee Ryue Nishizawa. In 2010, Sejima was appointed director of architecture sector for the Venice 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 Pritzker Prize, together with Ryue Nishizawa.

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa have worked on several projects in Germany, France, England, the Netherlands, United States, and Spain. Many of their designs like the New Museum in the Bowery District in New York City as well as their Glass Pavilion for the Toledo Museum of Art involve glass and a space open to the world around it. Such design element can be found abundantly in their designs.

Sejima creates her designs with clean modernist elements. They usually include slick, clean, and shiny surfaces made of glass, marble, and metals. She also likes to use squares and cubes, which can be found in her designs in various usages. Large windows allow natural light to enter a space, and make her space be involved with the world which is on the other side of the glass. It is this connection of two spaces from which she draws her inspirations.