SANAA win Daylight Award for Rolex Learning Center. Interview with Sejima + Nishizawa (SANAA)

Japanese architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA) have won the 2014 Daylight Award (Tageslicht-Award) for the design of the Rolex Learning Center EPFL in Lausanne. With CHF 120,000 prize money the award is the highest architectural prize in Switzerland. It promotes buildings with an innovative use of daylight. In the run-up to the award presentation, VernissageTV had a closer look at the building in Lausanne and met with Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in Paris, to learn more about the concept of the building. In this interview, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa talk about the ideas behind the building, the challenges they were facing, the importance of natural light in their work, and how their building is received by the users of the building.

The Daylight Award (Tageslicht-Award) is presented already for the fourth time by the Velux Stiftung in close collaboration with the Department of Architecture of ETH Zurich and the Swiss Council of Architecture. Previous laureates (winners and honorary awardees) are Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer, Peter Märkli, Peter Zumthor, James Turrell, Isa Stürm + Urs Wolf, Bob Gysin + Partner Architects BGP, Bearth & Deplazes Architects, Gramazio & Kohler Architects, Cruz & Ortiz, and Giraudi & Wettstein.

The Rolex Learning Center EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, is an extraordinary building in many ways, not least in regard to the use of natural light. Designed by Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA), the building is conceived as one single space with openness and extensive use of natural light in mind. It houses a multimedia library, student workspaces, a multipurpose hall, a food court, a bookshop, a parking, among other facilities. It opened on February 22nd, 2010.

A visit to the Rolex Learning Center EPFL Lausanne and an interview with Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA). Lausanne (Switzerland), February 6, 2014; Paris (France), January 21, 2014.

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Art TV pioneer Vernissage TV provides you with an authentic insight into the world of contemporary fine arts, design and architecture. With its two main series "No Comment" and "Interviews", art tv channel VernissageTV attends opening receptions of exhibitions worldwide, interviews artists, designers, architects. VTV provides art lovers with news, reports and features from the international art scene. VernissageTV: the window to the art world. Das Fenster zur Kunstwelt. La fenêtre sur le monde de l'art. A janela para o mundo da arte. La ventana al mundo del arte. نافذة على عالم الفن. 到艺术世界的窗口。Окно в мир искусства. Since 2005.