Sky-san

I've been at work for 3 days now at Nikken Sekkei, and to start off, there have definitely been a couple unexpected things about working in Tokyo. First, I am clearly going to have to try to learn a lot more Japanese than I thought! before the trip, I'd gotten the impression that at least the younger people at work might speak a little more English, but for the most part, this is not the case. And the frustrating part is that they seem like really cool people that I'd like to get to know, but it's difficult with such a language barrier. There are a couple people there who speak very good English and they help me translate, and the people who don't speak English have been trying to teach me some Japanese.

Which leads me to the next unexpected thing: it's hard to make a generalization only three days in and at such a large company, but at least as far as the the people I've been fortunate enough to meet at Nikken, the people are so incredibly friendly and accommodating it is kind of amazing. They are so quick to have a laugh or offer assistance it's impossible not to feel comfortable around them. They have come up to me and introduced themselves, accompanied me to lunch to try different delicious Japanese foods every day, given me tasks that I feel I can do and actually let me have some input into some of the schematic designs, been patient with my very poor Japanese attempts and tried their own English out on me, taken me aside to show me other parts of the building like the lounge on the top floor, walked with me to the train station to make sure I bought the right train pass, and I could go on. They also love architecture, lighting up when they see a sketch or a model they like, and as a team they clearly put great effort into producing excellent buildings. Not subscribing to the idea of making only computer-based models and images, all 14 floors are filled with physical models made with great detail and craftsmanship. They work together with their own group of engineers on the floors below, enabling them to more easily propose unexpected architectural feats, such as a museum currently under construction that features a 100 meter cantilever (my supervisor has let me know there might be an opportunity for me to visit the site in the next few weeks). The whole place is impressive, but somehow the people there manage to not make it intimidating.

My first day we had a meeting and I was briefed about a group of rehearsal spaces for a religious marching band. My two main supervisors, Mariko Banno and Takashi Suzuki, showed me some sketch models and a 3d perspective, and explained they're working on a translucent front facade for the different volumes that make up the buildings. I was put to work researching and sketching some options for this facade. The next day they said that there was one they wanted me to work on more in depth, and asked if I could make some sketch models. Here's a shot of me with Mariko-san and Suzuki-san:

The last two days I've been in the model shop working on those. The model shop, by the way, is a lot of fun. So often in school I'm a bit limited to the supplies that I have or can afford. Here, it's like being in the art store and you can just take everything. There are mostly other Japanese guys and girls around my age in the model shop. They speak little English, but we get along ok. Here's Tsuchi, who works with me in the model shop:

I took a few pictures around the building after work today. Here's the view from my desk:

A typical neighborhood street outside the office:
The front entrance:
Some models around the office:

After work I stopped over in Shibuya to see the the hordes of people cross this giant intersection at the end of rush hour. Pretty impressive:

That's all for now. More to come later.