Sejima has called white “the color that reflects the most light and changes most with time.” El Croquis ’s printing respects this: uncoated paper, generous margins, and no text over images. Each photograph – often showing a building in rain, mist, or twilight – reads as a study of light’s decay.
While SANAA has been featured in multiple El Croquis issues and anthologies, remains the seminal text. Titled Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa 1995-2004 , this issue arrived at a pivotal moment. It captured the duo just as they were transitioning from cult status within the architectural underground to global stardom, shortly before their victory in the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion competition and, eventually, the Rolex Learning Center. el croquis sanaa
To understand the weight of these volumes—specifically the legendary Issue 121 and the subsequent comprehensive tomes—is to understand the trajectory of 21st-century architecture. Through the lens of El Croquis, the work of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa was not just recorded; it was canonized, presenting a vision of architecture that was porous, transparent, and radically democratic. Sejima has called white “the color that reflects