Amazing Grace: SANAA designs the ultimate community centre
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

As the wellspring of modernist residential architecture, New Canaan, Connecticut has long been a town known for both its manmade and natural beauty. Already home to Philip Johnson’s The Glass House (opens in new tab) and other breathtaking icons by Marcel Breuer, Eliot Noyes and Landis Gores, the township welcomed a new addition over the weekend – the SANAA-designed (opens in new tab) Grace Farms (opens in new tab), a community and cultural centre, library, multipurpose gymnasium and public park, spread out over 80 acres of luscious woodland.
Funded by the Grace Farms Foundation (opens in new tab), a private organization that runs initiatives that support the arts, areas of faith, justice and the New Canaan community, the glorified recreation centre is situated on a former horse farm and has been in the works since 2009. Dealt with the brief to integrate the architecture into the existing landscape as much as possible, SANAA created an undulating building that meanders down the topography of the site, which has been christened 'The River'. Starting at the top of a knoll, where a 20,900 square foot, glass enclosed amphitheatre sits, the building gently descends down the terrain via a covered, but outdoor walkway that connects library, dining room, welcome pavilion and ends in a sunken gymnasium that houses a basketball court, media lab and games room, perfect for youth-oriented activities and cultural performances. All the indoor spaces are encased in curved glass, preserving a sense of the outdoors when indoors and vice versa.
'Our goal with the River is to make the architecture become part of the landscape,' says Kazuyo Sejima, co-founder of the Pritzker Prize-winning SANAA. 'We hope that those who are on the property will have a greater enjoyment of the beautiful environment and changing seasons through the spaces and experience created by the River.'
Great effort has been taken to ensure that Grace Farms’ new home reflects the altruistic ethos of the foundation. From the custom-made dining furniture that SANAA designed from trees felled on site, to the mile-long path that allows public visitors to enjoy the idyllic grounds and ponds, Grace Farms is an inspiring addition to New Canaan’s design legacy that will keep giving back for years to come.
Known as 'The River', SANAA's meandering building measures in at 83,000 square feet and seamless blends indoor and outdoor spaces so that visitors can truly appreciate the natural surroundings.
Seamlessly integrated into the landscape, the building gracefully switches back along the sloping terrain
The multi-purpose building brings together an amphitheatre, library, dining room, welcome pavillion and gymnasium under one continuous roof.
Each indoor space is enclosed in curved glass. In the dining room, custom-made furniture made from the trees felled on site fill the space
Grace Farms' library contains research and resources pertaining to justice, the arts, nature and multidenominational faith.
A view of the Sanctuary, a 700 seat amphitheatre space that showcase incredible vistas of the surrounding landscape.
Of Grace Farms' 80-acre site, around 77 acres have been preserved as open meadows, woods, wetlands and ponds
Pei-Ru Keh is the US Editor at Wallpaper*. Born and raised in Singapore, she has been a New Yorker since 2013. Pei-Ru has held various titles at Wallpaper* since she joined in 2007. She currently reports on design, art, architecture, fashion, beauty and lifestyle happenings in the United States, both in print and digitally. Pei-Ru has taken a key role in championing diversity and representation within Wallpaper's content pillars and actively seeks out stories that reflect a wide range of perspectives. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two children, and is currently learning how to drive.
-
Stanya Kahn’s Frieze Los Angeles commission to unearth the ‘understory’ of human intervention in nature
We speak to multidisciplinary artist Stanya Kahn, whose ‘Understory’ installation will be unveiled at Frieze Los Angeles for the 2023 R.U.in.ART Commission
By Harriet Lloyd-Smith • Published
-
On your marks: the best looking sports watches
Choose the right sports watch for you, for its capabilites or its tools for outdoor adventure, bringing the greatest physical and mental benefits
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
Onitsuka Tiger hosts British artist Michele Fletcher in its in-store gallery
Michele Fletcher is the latest artist to show in Onitsuka Tiger’s open-to-all Tiger Gallery, found within the Japanese brand’s London flagship
By Jack Moss • Published