Marianne Cadio
This spring semester I went to Tokyo for a co-op with Tetsuo Kobori architects. I got to work on several different projects, including a competition proposal of which I was on a 3-person team, grasshopper modeling for a skyscraper in Ginza, an automobile company's office/meeting spaces, and floor plan ideation for a coworking space for the Japanese government, and rendering for a weekend home near Mt. Fuji.
I also got to stay in a sharehouse, or coliving space for 30 people, most of whom were various Japanese students and officeworkers, but also several international students and workers who all gave me many wonderful perspectives of the world. Among them, my closest friends were Jason, a 41 yr old Chinese retiree, Misa, a 26 yr old graphic design counselor, and Hyewon, a 28 yr old Korean expat. They all helped me learn so much about myself as a person, in terms of my goals for the future, my perspectives on love, sexuality, and the different realities of living in Japan.
Through my workplace I was able to learn a lot about different architecture schools in Japan, which helped me figure out more about where I want to go for graduate school. I also learned about different aspects of the Japanese architecture industry, from the overwork culture prominent in certain firms, as well as what current practicing architects thought about the current top architects in Japan. They gave me the wonderful chance to visit their sites, the ones they hadn't won yet (for the competition proposal), the ones that were ongoing (a smaller renovation project near the Sky Tree), and finished projects (an office building and high end traditional hotel in Fukui).
Here are some additional fun pictures!
