Kazuyo Sejima | Dissolving Architectural Boundaries with "Transparency"

Kazuyo Sejima is a renowned Japanese architect and the laureate of the 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Specializing in a modern minimalist style, her works embody an exquisite, fresh and transparent aesthetic. She excels at using "transparency" to dissolve architectural boundaries, forging a closer interactive relationship between architecture and its surrounding environment, as well as between people and space. Below is a detailed elaboration of this core design philosophy:

Origins of the Design Philosophy

Kazuyo Sejima’s concept of architectural transparency extends far beyond the physical translucency of glass. Instead, it achieves an experience of ambiguous spatial boundaries, spatial fluidity, and human-environment integration through the multi-dimensional synergy of building materials, structural design, circulation planning and functional layout. Her ingenious design techniques are embodied in material application, spatial planning and circulation design, which can be elaborated in detail combined with representative works as follows:

I. Material Layering and Texture Treatment: Constructing a "Filter Layer" for Ambiguous Boundaries

• Double-skin facade system: Balancing transparency and performance
  It is not a simple stack of glass curtain walls, but a composite interface of "glass + lightweight grid". For example, the Taichung Green Art Museum adopts a combination of large-area low-reflective glass and silver-white aluminum expanded mesh for its facade. The aluminum expanded mesh acts as a lightweight "architectural veil", which not only achieves about 16% sun-shading efficiency through its porous structure, but also reflects the greenery and light and shadow of the surrounding park, endowing the building with an indistinct hazy effect in daylight. When the interior lights shine through at night, the mesh softens the light intensity, enabling the building to blend naturally with the park’s night view and completely dissolve the hard boundary between architecture and the environment. The Shanghai West Bund Art Island Art Tower pairs glass curtain walls with perforated grid aluminum airfoil louvers; the louvers not only regulate indoor light and temperature, but also cast delicate time-varying light and shadow on the facade, making the boundary dynamically change with the flow of light and shadow.

**Strategic Material Transparency**

Materials are selected and combined based on desired levels of transparency to balance visibility and privacy. The Toledo Museum of Art's Glass Pavilion uses vast clear glass panels to create seamless 360-degree views, connecting indoor exhibits with the surrounding forest. Its double-skin glass wall provides climate control and creates a soft, luminous quality. In Tokyo, the Omotesando Dior flagship features pleated acrylic panels between layers of clear glass, with integrated fiber optics. This "glass + translucent layer + light" composition creates a gradient effect—appearing as delicate fabric by day and emitting a gentle glow at night, fostering a subtle dialogue with the street.

**Translucency in Non-Glass Materials**

Non-glass materials can be engineered to achieve visual transparency. The Louvre-Lens Museum uses locally sourced, anodized aluminum to form a semi-translucent curtain wall that reflects the industrial heritage of the site while casting a metallic glow. In Iida City, the Ogasawara Memorial Museum employs glass printed with tree patterns. These translucent screens filter light and ensure privacy, creating a visual connection with the mountainous landscape and blurring the boundary between inside and outside.