Philadelphia, PA, April 1, 2026 – SANAA, the internationally acclaimed Tokyo-based architecture firm founded by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, is the honored recipient of the 39th Louis I. Kahn Award, an award given by DesignPhiladelphia. Accepting the award on behalf of SANAA, Kazuyo Sejima will present a talk that will take place at the University of Pennsylvania’s Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, May 6, 2026. A VIP reception with light hors d'oeuvres and beverages will be held in the Chinese Rotunda from 5:30 to 6:30 pm. Tickets are available on the DesignPhiladelphia website.
Celebrated for its elegant and minimalist approach, SANAA creates architecture that emphasizes light, transparency, and openness. The firm’s work often blurs the boundary between interior and exterior space, inviting movement and interaction while fostering a strong connection to the surrounding environment. Their projects are known for clarity and a deeply human-centered sensibility. Among SANAA’s most notable works are the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, the Toledo Museum of Art Glass Pavilion, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, the Rolex Learning Center EPFL in Lausanne, Louvre-Lens in France, Grace Farms in Connecticut, Bocconi University’s New Urban Campus in Milan, La Samaritaine in Paris, the Art Gallery of New South Wales expansion in Sydney, Kagawa Prefectural Arena in Japan, and the Taichung Green Museumbrary in Taiwan. Sejima and Nishizawa have received some of the highest honors in architecture, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2004, the Pritzker Prize in 2010, the Praemium Imperiale in 2022, and the Royal Gold Medal in 2025.
The annual Louis I. Kahn Award, founded in 1983, is Philadelphia's signature event honoring individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of architecture. The event celebrates these achievements in memory of the storied career of Philadelphia architect Louis Kahn—widely considered the most critical Modernist American architect and designer of such famous structures as the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California; the National Assembly Building in Dhaka, Bangladesh; and the Richards Medical Research Laboratories at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
The event raises funds to provide free design education to children in Philadelphia through the Design Education program of DesignPhiladelphia, which brings practicing architects and designers into public school classrooms. Design Education Introduces children to the fields of architecture and design while empowering them to use design to shape their homes, neighborhoods, and city.
Past Kahn awardees include Kengo Kuma, founder of Kengo Kuma & Associates (KAA); Weiss/Manfredi, award-winning firm, founded by Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi; Pritzker Prize Winning Architecture Firm Herzog & de Meuron, architects of Tate Modern gallery in London, Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, National Stadium in Beijing; Stephen Kieran, FAIA + James Timberlake, FAIA, founders of the firm KieranTimberlake and architects of the Embassy of the United States in London; Diller Scofido + Renfro, architects of the High Line and The Shed at Hudson Yards; Bjarke Ingels, architect of Google headquarters.
The 2026 Louis I. Kahn Award is generously supported by presenting sponsor Gattuso Development Partners — a developer of exceptional, sustainable high-performance workplaces. Led by former Liberty Property Trust leaders John S. Gattuso, President and CEO, and Anne Cummins, COO, the Gattuso team has played a vital role in reshaping the Philadelphia skyline and revitalizing its urban landscape.
Louis Isadore Kahn was born in Pärnu, Estonia, in 1901, emigrating to Philadelphia in 1906. A student of Philadelphia’s Central High School and, subsequently, the University of Pennsylvania, Kahn is considered one of the most influential architects of the second half of the twentieth century, according to his biography on The Athenaeum of Philadelphia’s website. His style, based mainly on geometric shapes, is most noted as being heavy and monumental. Kahn’s notable projects include the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, CA; the Kimball Art Museum in Fort Worth, TX; and the Library of the Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, NH. Kahn was also a renowned teacher at Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, MIT, and Princeton.
DesignPhiladelphia's vision is that together we will create a Philadelphia that is designed for and by everyone. We foster a vibrant design community from K through Career committed to excellence, inclusivity, and connections. As an invaluable partner in Philadelphia’s progress, we do that through multidisciplinary design education, our annual festival, and public programs. We do this because for students we will open doors and create economic opportunities in underserved communities, providing support and sparking new aspirations, from kindergarten through career. For designers we will support and unify the design industry across the region; make it less siloed, more inclusive, and more consequential in Philadelphia’s progress. And for the Philadelphia region we will ignite the narrative that Philadelphia is a global design hub, charting a new course to make design by and for everyone. Learn more at www.designphiladelphia.org.
For media inquiries, please contact: Rebecca Johnson, rebecca@designphiladelphia.org; (mobile) 215-266-9232