The Sanaa with QoWood furniture.

The Sanaa Architects chooses QoWood furniture for their new building “The River”, in New Canaan, Connecticut, US.

The building.

Called “The River” because of the way it meanders through the rolling terrain, the SANAA building seamlessly integrates into the natural setting at Grace Farms in New Canaan, Connecticut.

Nestled into the landscape, the River begins on a knoll and then flows down the long, gentle slope in a series of bends, forming pond-like spaces on its journey. Structurally, the building of glass, concrete, steel and wood is in essence a single long roof, which seems to float some 10 to 14 feet above the surface of the ground as it twists and turns across the landscape. The walkways, courtyards and glass-wrapped volumes that form beneath the roof are remarkably transparent and invite people to engage with the expansive natural surroundings.

The architects.

SANAA is an architectural firm that combines the creative talents of Pritzker Prize winning architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa and their staff of 25 in Tokyo, Japan. In the words of the Pritzker jury, “The buildings by Sejima and Nishizawa seem deceptively simple. The architects hold a vision of a building as a seamless whole, where the physical presence retreats and forms a sensuous background for people, objects, activities, and landscapes.”

Grace Farms Foundation chose SANAA for this project, shortly before the Pritzker Prize announcement, because their vision of architecture is closely aligned with the purposes of Grace Farms. Their fluid integration of inside and outside space produces environments which are rich in social and spiritual potential.  The River is being constructed on a sliver of the 80-acre Grace Farms property and will be the firm’s first project to be completed in the United States following the firm’s receipt of the Pritzker Prize.

The building “The river”.

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The Sanaa Architects.

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QoWood chair with sanaa

QoWood chair with sanaa

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Hand manufacturing in QoWood factory. With our guardian….

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QoWood factory.

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