I recently made a pilgrimage to visit SANAA’s incredible Rolex Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland- and in all my travels, it was by far the most phenomenal building I have ever visited.
Even though the building is huge and flat, it allows ground level activity, open (but shaded) courtyards, ground floor access, views of the city and lake, good ventilation, and natural light throughout- as well as a multitude of types of spaces and terrains for activity within the building. Plus it just looks damn incredible!
Notes taken while browsing the numerous SANAA books in the Rolex Centre library:
“It’s all about context & process” -Kazuyo Sejima
Sejima’s early influences- the ‘sky house’ by Seikun Kikutake, and the work of Toyo Ito
“I could have suggested 80 seperate rooms, one big room, or only 10 rooms” -Kazuyo Sejima on her Seiyaku Dormitory project
“We try not to select options for which we can already imagine the outcome. In other words, we try to select the direction with the most possibilities” -Kazuyo Sejima
“A rectangular or square plan cannot make the entire facade a front, as could a circular plan” -Kazuyo Sejima, in reference to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa
On minimalism- “We want people to recognize the relationship between parts without a doinant finish. Too much emphasis on secondary elements is distracting” -Kazuyo Sejima
Check out another incredible education building by SANAA!
Images by Jonathan Choe
