RYUE Nishizawa Arquitecture in context

Japanese architect Ryue Nishizawa has one obsession: to position architecture in its rightful place, not only metaphorically but also physically. His buildings adapt perfectly to their setting. They embrace it and become part of its continuity, allowing nature to penetrate the interior space, for the delight of their occupants. The result is permeable architecture in an intimate relationship with the landscape.

TEXT: EVA DEL AMO

yue Nishizawa was born in Tokyo in 1966, and realised very early on that he wanted to be an architect. He graduated from Yokohama National University with a degree in architecture, and after completing his master’s degree, he began working at Kazuyo Sejima & Associates. Just five years later, he teamed up with his former boss, Kazuyo Sejima, to form Sejima and Nishizawa and Associates, better known as SANAA. The two partners agreed on a novel formula: they would work on projects together, but also separately. Thus Nishizawa founded his independent studio under the humble name of Office of Ryue Nishizawa, which has been a great success with its bold, innovative designs, earning him fame not only in Japan, but also worldwide.

A Renowned Architect

Ryue Nishizawa is an associate professor at Yokohama National University in the field of Architecture and Design, and has been a guest lecturer at prestigious design schools such as Harvard and Lausanne (Switzerland), as well as at the universities of Princeton and Cambridge.

Among the Japanese architect’s most important works are The Jining Art Museum (China), Ochoquebradas House (Chile) and Terasaki House (Tokyo). Also widely acknowledged are the Christian Dior Omotesando Building (Tokyo), the Fujimoto Museum (Tokyo), the Glass Pavilion of the

RToledo Museum of Art (USA), and the Louvre-Lens Museum (France), which won the French architecture award, The Silver T-Square Prize.

In 2010, Nishizawa was awarded the Pritzker Prize, the highest award in the world of architecture, praising his “immaterial, outward-looking, precise and sophisticated style”. The result is buildings with a simple, casual air, and which have an intimate relationship with nature. For Nishizawa, the most important thing is that architecture blends in with its surroundings.

Success Stories

Among the buildings that define his philosophy is the Rolex Learning Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland, where visitors can connect with the exterior through a structure with few visible supports. Built on the campus of Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), it overlooks Lake Geneva, and has been described by the architect as “free architecture”.

Another building with a profound symbiosis with the landscape is the Teshima Art Museum, located on a hill on the island of the same name in Japan. Its design, defined as “organic architecture” has no straight lines, endorsing the idea that architecture can form part of nature without manipulating it.

Finally, the Louvre-Lens Museum in France is set in a mining town with a significant historical heritage, and seeks to preserve the essence of the setting. This building, in addition to respecting the topography of the place where it has been erected, aims to take advantage of the magnificent natural light of the area, using it indirectly to display the pieces of art.

Latest Projects

In addition to the previous projects, there is the so-called “Garden & House”, a four-storey townhouse in one of the most densely populated areas of Tokyo, with the novelty that the building incorporates small gardens in each room.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a museum or a house. We always try to create a relationship between architecture and landscape,” says the architect, who inaugurated one of his most ambitious projects last year: the undulating glass façade of La Samaritaine, in Paris.

Ryue Nishizawa does not understand architecture without context. The building has to be immersed in the landscape, for its occupants’ enjoyment. By minimising the impact on nature and taking advantage of the natural resources that surround it, this perfect symbiosis has made him one of the most renowned modernist architects on the international scene today.