The Thousands

The SANAA architects are Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa. Their very distinct aesthetic always creates a relationship between inside and outside and embraces the qualities of light, transparency and openness. Their ethereal design of New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art  transformed the Bowery, a street with as much history as the city itself. The building rises 53 metres above street level, its structure and guts completely exposed. It seems to almost hover off the ground with clear plate glass stretching across the full width of the ground floor.**Now in their sights is Le Louvre-Lens, a satellite of the Louvre in the city of Lens, due to open in 2012. The museum will show works from all periods and cultures side by side, a set-up that contradicts the distinct departments of Musée du Louvre. The design of the building perfectly fits into the ideology expected from the duo, will transcend its function as a museum space.