At its highest form, architecture offers sublime visual and physical experience. In New Canaan, Connecticut, a hot bed of American modernism, the Tokyo-based firm SANAA adds to the canon with Grace Farms, a scintillating glass pavilion that marries structural beauty with spiritual purpose. The building enhances its surroundings and becomes a lens through with to view the idyllic landscape punctuated with century-old trees, meandering trails, and native flora.

When Sejima and Nishizawa won the Pritzker Prize in 2010, the jury lauded the duo for “architecture that is simultaneously delicate and powerful, precise and fluid, ingenious but not overly or overtly clever; for the creation of buildings that successfully interact with their contexts and the activities they contain, creating a sense of fullness and experiential richness.” Grace Farms is perhaps the most elegant expression of their work to date.

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Photography by: Iwan Baan and Dean Kaufman.