SANAA received the Golden Lion at the 9th Venice Architecture Biennale for the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa.
On September 12, 2004, Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, working as SANAA, were awarded the Golden Lion at the 9th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale for their design of the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa, Japan.
The Golden Lion is among the most prestigious honors in international architecture, recognizing outstanding contributions to contemporary practice. The jury highlighted the museum's radical rethinking of the traditional museum typology—a circular, transparent glass structure with no discernible front or back, allowing visitors to enter from any direction and encouraging spontaneous, non-hierarchical engagement with art and public space.
This recognition significantly elevated SANAA's international profile, positioning the firm—and Sejima specifically—as leaders of a new generation of architects rethinking spatial openness, transparency, and democratic accessibility in public buildings.
The award served as a precursor to the greater international recognition that would follow six years later with the Pritzker Prize, and it remains one of the defining moments establishing the Kanazawa museum as a modern architectural icon studied in design schools worldwide.