As creative directors of this year’s annual report – the twentieth in a collection of artistically designed reports – Zumtobel AG was able to recruit Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, co-founders of and partners in the Japanese architectural practice SANAA.

In an age of mega-projects, SANAA’s minimalist, refined and transparent buildings set an impressive, highly respected counterpoint, an approach that last year brought them the Pritzker Prize. It is precisely with a view to the impact and utilisation of light that the architecture of Sejima Kazuyo and Ryue Nishizawa provides such a valuable source of inspiration. “Light, and lightness, are basic qualities in the building of open and transparent environments that people can use freely,” is how Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa describe their understanding of the impact of light on archtecture. In the annual report that they have designed, they open a window on their own work: In a collection of 40 postcards, each card shows a different atmosphere while at the same time creating relationships with the other images in the series. This reflects SANAA’s approach to architecture in which they bring together different parts to form an organic whole.

In their overall concept of the report SANAA have focused on the essentials, producing a small, three-dimensional object, perfect in its proportions, materials and workmanship. The contents too are clearly structured: one section on translucent paper with reports on the 2010/11 financial year and – to offset all the facts and figures – the collection of postcards depicting inspired ensembles of architecture and light.