S A N A AD E S I G N P R O C E S S

E S S A Y F R O M

A N I N T E R N S H I P

E X T E N D E D A B S T R A C T

M A T I L D E M A R I A M A T H I A S C O R T E Z D E L O B Ã O

T h e s i s t o o b t a i n t h e M a s t e r o f S c i e n c e D e g r e e i n

A R C H I T E C T U R E

S u p e r v i s o r

P R O F E S S O R T E R E S A F R E D E R I C A T O J A L D E V A L S A S S I N A H E I T O R

S u p e r v i s o r

A R C H I T E C T F E R N A N D O F E R R E I R A C A M P O S

M A Y 2 0 1 6

01 Introduction 9 02 Context 11

Histor ical Context 11

A l ineage of inf luencers 12

Three new approaches 12

Towards l ightness for nothingness 12

03 Concept 15

The architects 15

Precedents 15

Atmospheres 16

Clar i ty 16

04 Process 17

05 Internship 18

Note:

Al l unreferenced images, photographs and drawings

were taken or drawn by the author.

Cover Off ice at Tatsumi.

01 Teshima Ar t Museum. 12Baan, I . (no date) Teshima ar t museum - Pesquisa Google. Ava i lab le at: ht tps://www.google.pt/

search?q=tesh ima+art+museum&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt8fnA_ITNAhWEC8AKHeBi-

BRgQ_AUIBygB&biw=1377&bih=602 (Accessed: 31 May 2016).

02 Louvre Lens. 13Baan, I . (no date) Teshima ar t museum - Pesquisa Google. Ava i lab le at: ht tps://www.google.pt/

search?q=tesh ima+art+museum&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjt8fnA_ITNAhWEC8AKHeBi-

BRgQ_AUIBygB&biw=1377&bih=602 (Accessed: 31 May 2016).

03 Teshima Ar t Museum. 14Photography, I .B. (2012) Iwan Baan - photography. Ava i lab le at: ht tp:// iwan.com/photo_Teshima_Muse-

um_Nish izawa.php?plaat=14Teshima-Museum-RNA-4958. jpg (Accessed: 31 May 2016).

04 Louvre Lens. 15Design, C.S. and Bui ld (2016) Musée du Louvre-Lens. Ava i lab le at: ht tp://www.huf tonandcrow.com/pro j-

ects/ga l ler y/musee-du- louvre- lens/ (Accessed: 31 May 2016).

L I S T O F G R A P H I C A L E L E M E N T S

Subsequent to an internship at the Tokyo of f ice of SANAA (Sej ima And Nishizawa And

Archi tects) carr ied out f rom September to December 2015, the present work seeks to

unvei l and understand the cr i ter ia and methods that have shaped the praxis of archi tects

Kazuyo Sej ima and Ryue Nishizawa. Their f i rm is commonly associated with the idea of

a search for a del icate archi tecture that cancels out i ts own presence only to give way

to other features in i ts surroundings, through a diverse range of mechanisms that th is

disser tat ion intends to ident i fy through patterns in thei r work.

To establ ish the means of th is invest igat ion, the f i rst par t of the present thesis is dedicated

to the research on the contextual background that has helped def ine SANAA, in order to

ident i fy a cont inui ty in the ideals carr ied out by previous generat ions of archi tects. Fur ther

on, through bibl iographic research and data acquired f rom the internship, and by analysing

the values of t radi t ional Japanese archi tecture, SANAA’s main conceptual premises are

pointed out and considered through examples of projects. To i l lustrate th is invest igat ion,

the th i rd chapter shares a conceptual process diagram. The work is complemented by the

f i rsthand insight of the three-month internship, which makes ment ion of cul tura l aspects

of l i fe in Japan.

In conclusion, th is disser tat ion aims to be a tool to understand the design process of the

f i rm SANAA based on the ident i f icat ion of key parameters in thei r methodology.

I N T R O D U C T I O N

H i s t o r i c a l C o n t e x t

Japan’s apprent ice-master cul ture has been for centur ies a means of progress in the

creat ive ar ts by being a way of passing on knowledge that cannot be learned without

seeing and observ ing. In archi tecture, th is re lat ion has brought for th a generat ion of

archi tects that has i ts or ig ins in the work of Le Corbusier.

The shi f t in Japanese archi tecture can be traced back to the end of WWII , when the country

began to recover f rom the economic impact of the war. Japan had the oppor tuni ty to show

the wor ld how futur ist ic and dar ing i t was able to be as far as technology and construct ion

were concerned. The fast increase in weal th gave archi tects a tota l creat ive l iber ty with

no f inancia l or planning restr ict ions, resul t ing in a plethora of bizarre archi tecture. The

Metabol ism Movement was introduced in the 1960 World Design Conference in Tokyo, and

with i t archi tecture gained a sense of renewal and regenerat ion, re ject ing s imultaneously

pre conceptual ideas of the past whi le defending that the indiv idual, the house and the ci ty

were al l par t of a s ingle l iv ing organism. Kiyonor i Kikutake, Kisho Kurokawa, Masato Ōtaka

Kenzo Tange and Fumihiko Maki, a l l renowned Japanese archi tects, were responsible for

implement ing th is ideology.

By late 1991, the economy began to decl ine, a real i ty which would go on for more than

ten years, becoming known to many as the Lost Decade. In th is adverse context,

ambit ion had to be scaled down, and matur i ty replaced the excess. Inevi tably archi tecture

had become an answer for actual problems, and archi tecture exper imentat ion per se

became something unaffordable and unreal ist ic. As a resul t , design moved away f rom the

1

C O N T E X T

provocat ive and hyster ical postmodernism and archi tecture returned to a s impler, more

t ransparent sty le of modernism.

G e n e r a t i o n s

One of the most inf luent ia l personal i t ies in the course of 20th century archi tecture was

the Swiss archi tect Le Corbusier. Founder of the Modernism Movement, Le Corbusier ’s

impact in Japan was long reaching with a young generat ion of archi tects theor is ing new

responses to archi tectura l quest ions. After h is death in 1965, regarding the ef fects of

chaot ic Japanese urbanisat ion, h is work began to be looked upon a more cr i t ical manner.

This discussion resul ted in the desire to th ink a l ternat ive solut ions for urban condit ions

and contr ibuted to a fur ther shi f t in the di rect ion of archi tecture in Japan.

Kazuo Shinohara (1926-2006) belonged to that group of archi tects that began to re ject the

Western inf luence. His ideas were immor ta l ised by an of fspr ing of young archi tects known

as the “Shinohara School”, which included Toyo I to, an archi tect who would himsel f later

lead a generat ion of innovat ive v is ionar ies. Having bui l t around th i r ty resident ia l houses

dur ing his l i fe in the scenar io of a chaot ic Tokyo, he bel ieved that the main focus in

archi tecture was not funct ional ef f ic iency or beauty, but rather the captur ing of a spir i tual

aspect with in urban chaos.

Shinohara’s work would prepare the path for the r ise of new archi tects that would embrace

archi tecture and the urban context in a new manner. Among them, we f ind Toyo I to and

Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kai j ima f rom the renowned Atel ier Bow Wow (these

two who were students of Kazunar i Sakamoto, who was a di rect fo l lower of Shinohara’s) .

T h r e e n e w a p p r o a c h e s

In th is chapter, three of the most inf luent ia l approaches to archi tecture are highl ighted

in order to demonstrate how Japanese ci t ies, over the past 25 years, have become a

permanent yard for exper imentat ion.

1. Toyo Ito

Toyo I to’s legacy is based on the idea of merging new technologies, urban l i fe and nature.

He broke the standard system of construct ion and began his new sty le, one which jo ins

together structure and design, something that wi l l a l low him and future archi tects to

overcome new l imits in design.

His Sendai L ibrary (completed in 2001) was the pioneer in integrat ing structure in the form

of archi tecture. By calculat ing the dimensions of these tubes, Toyo I to could re lease forces

in other par ts of the bui ld ing, chal lenging the former system of construct ion cal led domino ,

which consisted in a matr ix of concrete pi l lars and beams that distr ibuted forces equal ly.

Sendai L ibrary’s l ightness achieved through engineer ing was the key point to a new stage

of archi tecture where archi tects were no longer dependent of engineer ing l imi tat ions and

explored a di f ferent, f reer way of construct ing.

1. Bow Wow Generation

The post Bubble s i tuat ion sent the Japanese to a per iod of int rospect ion that gave bi r th

to the Bow Wow Generat ion1, term att r ibuted to the young archi tects, most born in the

s ixt ies, that found themselves with in the post bubble s i tuat ion with no commissions,

forced to develop new design tact ics for the changing Tokyo landscape. The atel iers of

th is generat ion are l inked to an ideology focused on the shi f t ing emphasis of Japanese

archi tectura l d iscourse f rom larger, more utopian scale to a more pract ical and indiv idual

examinat ion.

This expression was given as a t r ibute to Bow Wow Atel ier, a research and design pract ice

founded by Yoshiharu Tsukamoto and Momoyo Kai j ima in 1992, who in i t iated thei r career

by creat ing empir ical analysis of the urban condit ions around them.

The Bow Wow atel ier and thei r contemporar ies were par t of a per iod that saw a prol i ferat ion

of postwar col lect ive housing cal led the danchi . Instead of cr i t iquing these aspects of the

modern ci ty, thei r at t i tude was to make publ icat ions with ideas on how to renovate the

housing blocks, t ry ing to ensure that they could last be adapted for the future.

1. Experimenting with houses: Tezuka Architects

Throughout thei r h istory, the Japanese have given preference to the plot of land system,

par t ly because Japan’s nature of ear thquakes doesn’t leave much f reedom for bui ld ing in

height. However, in the post-bubble scenar io and with demographic pressure, these lots

resul ted in t ighter areas.

The Japanese, in general , were very keen on having thei r own al lotment, so much that

they developed mechanisms al lowing them to l ive in such t iny lots. Aware that Japan is a

society f i l led with ru les and legis lat ion, wi th str ict requirements f rom i ts inhabitants, people

with empty lots began to face archi tecture as the only means that could give them the sel f

expression they lacked in other areas of thei r l ives. As a resul t ta i lor made housing star ted

1 Term co ined by cr i t ic and pub l isher o f Te lescope Magaz ine Ak i ra Suzuk i

gain ing popular i ty and created the per fect context for v is ionary young archi tects f i l led with

ideas f rom travels and academic work to star t thei r careers.

The house became, for these reasons, where al l the new design exper imentat ions wi l l be

di rected towards f rom the ninet ies onward. One archi tecture f i rm that explored th is f ie ld

is the one founded by the couple Takahuru and Yui Tezuka in 1994 under the name of

Tezuka Archi tects. They focus thei r housing design in the analysis of the inhabitant ’s dai ly

act iv i t ies and the ways of st imulat ing those act iv i t ies in a new archi tecture. The concept is

a very impor tant tool that is drawn from the user ’s dai ly l i fe, and is used as a s imple and

direct answer for those behaviours.

At the indiv idual level , archi tects have had to face a new type of people that star ted

towards the end of the XX century. The working woman who wants to be s ingle or the man

who isolates f rom society play ing v ideo-games in h is rooms (hik ikomor i syndrome). These

socia l problems led archi tects to develop what they cal led the “communicat ion plan”.

T o w a r d s l i g h t n e s s f o r n o t h i n g n e s s

The chaot ic scenar io of the 20th century, wi th the demographic pressure in

the big ci t ies of Japan, resul ted in urban landscapes with low qual i ty of l i fe,

c laustrophobic and with a strong impression of di r t iness. Thus, i t t r iggered a react ion

to draw spaces that would capt ivate the concepts of c leanl iness and empt iness.

When looking for c leanl iness, the use of white could be considered as the immediate response

to i t , but other e lements as curvy l ines ( that break down the r ig idness) and translucent

mater ia ls a lso give spaces the sensat ion of a purer envi ronment, much l ike the vei l of a br ide.

When looking for empt iness, the idea is to get an outcome in new bui l t space as i f no bui ld ing

had been bui l t , and instead nature is g iven back to that space. The wor ld is deconstructed

towards a purer one, the nothingness in archi tecture. Through the years, Japanese would

star t to use diverse techniques that wi l l become the basis for a new l ight archi tecture.

Whi le making space less complex, the Japanese redimensioned archi tecture to a more human

real i ty. Nothingness is a cr i t ique of the over load of e lements that provoke an unsustainable

v isual noise in everyday l i fe. This Nothingness that the Japanese pursue cleans out a l l

the th ings that might distract the user f rom the essence of space. I t is an archi tecture

of subtract ion and reduct ion in order to give back the t rue beauty of the envi ronment.

The chapter Concept is a imed to ident i fy the common ideas and pr inciples in the works of

Sej ima and Nishizawa. I t begins with a chapter int roducing the archi tects, and separates

the conceptual ideas in two par ts. The f i rst , which is named atmospheres, deepens the

concepts of t ime ( t imeless space ) , inf in i ty (endless space ) , and re lat ions ( re lat ions in

space ) . The second chapter ident i f ies a general concept of c lar i ty in design that def ines

the work of SANAA.

T h e a r c h i t e c t s

After surveying the s i tuat ion of the second hal f of the 20th century in Japanese archi tecture,

wi th i ts remarkable group of personal i t ies who shaped contemporary archi tecture, i t is

easy to connect the dots to f ind the inf luences of Le Corbusier, Shinohara or Toyo I to in

the work of SANAA. Both Kazuyo Sej ima and Ryue Nishizawa have thei r own of f ice, whi lst

s imultaneously working together as SANAA in larger commissions. Their work is based on

r igorous invest igat ion guided by strong and clear concepts. They have explored the use of

white in mater ia ls, exper imented with curved wal ls and f loors and chal lenged convent ional

pr inciples in archi tecture.

P r e c e d e n t s : l e a r n i n g f r o m t h e J a p a n e s e h o u s e

In th is par t , e lements in the t radi t ional Japanese house are pointed out and re lated to the

archi tecture of SANAA in order to understand the inf luence thei r Japanese roots have had

on thei r work.

2

C O N C E P T

The Japanese pr inciple of Wabi-Sabi is about an acceptance of t ransience, the imper fect ions

and the cycles of nature. The approach is about f inding beauty in the s imple, natura l ,

authent ic and imper fect. The aesthet ic creates pure and minimal ist outcomes. The values

of Japanese archi tecture are pi tched towards an aesthet ic dimension, which cannot be

tangibly speci f ied. Japanese have learned to value the changes in the atmosphere in the

surroundings, and search to promote the cont inui ty of nature and i ts beauty to the inside

of the inhabited space.

A t m o s p h e r e s

In SANAA’s archi tecture we f ind a number of e lements that can only be exper ienced and

are otherwise impossible to grasp. Their projects, l ike Japanese tradi t ions, adapt to t ime

and events and are eternal . They aspire in creat ing an atmosphere or a landscape for

people, and have since the beginning of thei r careers focused on the exper ience of space

and how this can achieve a cer ta in qual i ty of t ranscendence.

In the process of research, three main ideas were ident i f ied in thei r work: t imeless

spaces, endless spaces and re lat ion spaces. The f i rst is re lated to a cer ta in idea of

f lex ib i l i ty in space. Archi tecture, in the design of Sej ima and Nishizawa, is thought out to

be a background for people and, as such, must of fer a wide range of possibi l i t ies and

funct ions. Projects are ambiguous and are designed with l i t t le amount of e lements that

can compromise i t to a cer ta in funct ion. They avoid extensive planning whi lst project ing a

bui ld ing with the purpose of g iv ing the users the f reedom to inhabit the space at thei r wi l l .

Endless spaces are associated with the idea of inf in i ty. Sej ima and Nishizawa in pr inciple

search to blur any idea of l imi ts of the bui ld ing, using mechanisms that can al low them

to create spaces that g ive the feel ing of extending towards the hor izon. Thin ver t ical

e lements and low cei l ings are only some of the methods used to achieve the hor izontal

archi tecture that is character ist ic of Mies van der Rohe.

Final ly, the re lat ions of space is one of thei r most recurrent themes. The idea that

archi tecture should promote encounters and interact ions with people and spaces.

1 Teshima Ar t Museum

C l a r i t y

SANAA’s work is iconic for i ts apparent s impl ic i ty and formal auster i ty. I t can be associated

qui te of ten to an essent ia l minimal ism, but thei r archi tecture goes beyond the intent ion

of s imply “c leaning” a l l unnecessary elements to create an archi tecture that is s imple.

What dist inguishes Sej ima and Nishizawa from their modernist inf luences is thei r intent ion

of provid ing clar i ty in the concept rather than the mater ia ls, through skimming down the

ideas to the essent ia l qual i t ies of the design. Nishizawa expla ins th is in an interv iew for

the El Croquis:

“Usual ly, t ransparency and l ightness, in terms of mass, are not the ul t imate goals. What

we are t r y ing to do is to organise the components in a clear way.”

Transparency in SANAA’s archi tecture is not l imi ted to a v isual c lar i ty, but assumes a

conceptual c lar i ty, and i t is th is quest for c lar i ty that leads them to project through simple

and thought out diagrams in which they only draw l ines that out l ine the spaces and

def ine a complete plan. A clar i ty that remains intact f rom the project ’s concept ion to our

exper iencing of the space.

In th is chapter, the concepts of l ightness, t ransparency and translucency are analysed as

means to achieve th is c lar i ty of concept.

3

P R O C E S S

T h e d y n a m i c e v o l u t i o n o f a p l a n

During the internship at SANAA, a general design process was ident i f ied for most projects.

The steps la id out are not a l l carr ied out in a l l projects, but in general the idea of process

fo l lows the fo l lowing methodology. At f i rst , the archi tects face the s i te area and are given

a proposal of programs by the cl ient. Given that, SANAA archi tects general ly f i t them into

the s i te plan to gain an idea of the areas of c i rculat ion and ut i l i ty. Then, the programs

are arranged in an archi tectonic logic, the archi tects re lease the program area’s r ig idness

and creates curved l ines, leaving the ci rculat ion in f ree plan. After that, l ight is g iven

considerat ion and cour tyards are open. The f loor is warped to give the spaces di f ferent

2 Louvre Lens

character. In the end of the process, the example chosen was the Rolex Learning Center

in Lausanne.

M o d e l s a n d d i a g r a m s

For SANAA workers, the process of design in archi tecture involves constant studies,

which includes sketched plans, models, v is i ts on s i te and doodles. I t is by th is method

that one can encounter problems and di f f icul t ies and overcome archi tectura l and spat ia l

chal lenges.

4

I N T E R N S H I P

The exper ience gained in the internship of three months in Tokyo, star t ing September

2015, is shared through a personal wr i t ing. The exper ience detai ls the beginning of

the integrat ion in the of f ice’s rout ines and intense schedules and reveals a process of

adaptat ion and learning, which was completed with the interact ions with the archi tects.

This chapter g ives an insight into the normal l i fe of a worker at SANAA, providing real data

in f i rst person. The three months involved the par t ic ipat ion in a number of projects, the

most re levant of which are speci f ied, which gave me the oppor tuni ty to be par t of d i f ferent

phases in di f ferent projects, including conceptual, schemat ic, detai led and construct ion

design, model l ing decis ions and so on. The internship provided the possibi l i ty to acquire

methods and techniques that could fur ther be t ransmit ted in th is disser tat ion. The last

chapter is devoted to a purely personal wr i t ing of the three-month internship exper ience,

and interact ion with the archi tects, i t was, f rom the beginning, a lways accompanied by my

superv isor who has l ived in Japan for many years.

M U L T I M E D I A L I B R A R Y

W O R K S P A C E S

C A F E T E R I A

E N T R A N C E

M U L T I P U R P O S E

W O R K S P A C E S

R E S E A R C H

C O L L E C T I O N

M U L T I M E D I A L I B R A R Y

W O R K S P A C E S

C A F E T E R I A

E N T R A N C E

M U L T I P U R P O S E

W O R K S P A C E SR E S E A R C H

C O L L E C T I O N

M U L T I M E D I A L I B R A R Y

W O R K S P A C E S

C A F E T E R I A

E N T R A N C E

M U L T I P U R P O S E

W O R K S P A C E S

R E S E A R C H

C O L L E C T I O N

M U L T I M E D I A L I B R A R Y

W O R K S P A C E S

C A F E T E R I A

E N T R A N C E

M U L T I P U R P O S E

W O R K S P A C E S

R E S E A R C H

C O L L E C T I O N

3 Teshima Ar t Museum

4 Louvre Lens