On January 22, 2025, the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design will honor SANAA, the Tokyo-based architecture firm founded by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, as the recipient of the 2024 Kanter Tritsch Medal in Architecture. Sejima will accept the award and give a talk at the public ceremony. 

The Kanter Tritsch Medal in Architecture was established in 2017 through a gift from Weitzman alumna Lori Kanter Tritsch (MArch’85), a member of the Board of Advisors at Weitzman, and her partner and fellow Penn alumnus William P. Lauder, who holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School and is a Penn trustee. The Medal honors an architect or firm that has changed the course of design history, with a particular focus on the areas of energy conservation, environmental quality, and/or diversity. 

In conjunction with the professional medal, the Weitzman School selected an outstanding student entering the final year of study to receive a $50,000 scholarship each for the 2024 - 2025 Academic Year. The recipient of the 2024 Kanter Tritsch Prize in Energy and Architectural Innovation is Ariel Koltun-Fromm (MArch’25). In addition, based on the outstanding submissions received, Dillon Thomas Day (MArch’25) received the Kanter Tritsch Second Place Prize in Architecture and a $10,000 scholarship for the 2024 - 2025 Academic Year.  

SANAA joins previous medalists Tod Williams and Billie Tsien (2018); A. Eugene Kohn (2019); Peter Eisenman (2020); MASS Design Group (2021); Diller Scofidio + Renfro (2022); and KoningEizenberg (2023). 

 The juries for the Kanter Tritsch Medal and Prize were chaired by Rossana Hu, Miller Professor and chair of architecture at Weitzman and co-founding partner at Neri&Hu Design and Research Office. At the public ceremony, Hu will present the Kanter Tritsch Prize in Energy and Architectural Innovation. The Weitzman School Awards lecture will take place Wednesday, January 22, 6;00pm on Penn’s campus at the Kleinman Energy Forum, Fisher Fine Arts Library, 220 South 34th Street, Philadelphia. Learn more about the honorees, past and present, on the Weitzman Awards website.  

About SANAA 

 SANAA is an architecture and design firm based in Tokyo, Japan founded by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa in 1995. Comprised of international architects and staff working on projects ranging in scale from residential and interior design to large complex buildings and urban planning schemes, as well as product and furniture design, SANAA approaches each project with a fresh perspective, believing that each design arises from conditions particular to the site and program. Each project is special and is closely followed by the two founding principles, as well as partners Yoshitaka Tanase, Yumiko Yamada, Rikiya Yamamoto, Lucy Styles and Francesca Singer.   SANAA works internationally and major works include 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa in Japan, New Museum and Grace Farms in the USA, Rolex Learning Center, EPFL in Switzerland, the Louvre-Lens and La Samaritaine in France, Bocconi University New Urban Campus in Milan, and Sydney Modern Project.  

About the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design 

 The mission of the Weitzman School of Design is to prepare students to address complex sociocultural and environmental issues through thoughtful inquiry, creative expression, and innovation. As a diverse community of scholars and practitioners, we are committed to advancing the public good–locally and globally–through art, design, planning, and preservation. The University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1740, is an Ivy League institution with a distinctive past. Its twelve undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools are located in Philadelphia on an attractive urban campus that serves a diverse community of more than 20,000 students from throughout the nation and around the world. Ranked consistently among the top universities in the nation, Penn has a longstanding reputation for excellence in graduate and professional education.   

Image: 21st Century Museum of Art, Kanazawa, Japan (design and photo by SANAA)