This year, five students participated in Kume Sekkei's annual work experience program with Fukagawa Daisan Junior High School, which lasted three days. The first-year employees acting as instructors were in charge of setting the agenda, planning the three-day schedule, and preparing the content of the experience.
This year's assignment is "architecture that revitalizes Shiomi." We asked the students to become part of Kume Sekkei and work as a team to develop architectural ideas for a site in Shiomi, Koto-ku, home to our headquarters, while considering who needs what and how it connects to the surrounding area.
First of all, as a recreational activity, we gave the students a tour of the company while showing them the drawings of the headquarters building, introducing them to what kind of company Kume Sekkei is. We started by familiarizing them with the company and its employees.
The assignment began with a walk and research around the site and the surrounding area. While some of the students lived in Shiomi and seemed familiar with the area, they found new things by observing the city from different perspectives, with the help of the instructor's explanations and clues. They noticed a park at the end of the street where they had been casually walking past, and they identified the theme for this assignment by observing the people who gathered there.
The students wrote down their research findings, grouped them by similar opinions and areas, and discussed what kind of buildings were needed as a team.
While carefully considering questions such as "What kind of people live in Shiomi?" and "What kind of buildings would be good for them?," they eventually decided to propose a multi-purpose facility that integrates a library, cafe, and sports facility.
The theme was decided, and now it was time to give form to ideas.
They divided up the work and created models and drawings. However, giving form to ideas is not easy. They sometimes had trouble visualizing the image or deciding what form to use. They sometimes had trouble getting a clear image or deciding what form to use. In such cases, the instructors gave advice and helped them find examples from architecture magazines and the internet for reference, and they repeatedly re-examined their ideas.
They had different ideas about how things should be done, saying "I want to do it this way," or "The reception should be located here to facilitate people's flow because it is a multipurpose complex." Their opinions often clashed while trying to consolidating the results into a single work. They worked as a team to develop the most suitable proposal while sharing and respecting each other's ideas.
On the final day, the students presented their proposals to the employees.
They prepared the script and the presentation materials while paying attention to details such as the scale and materials of the model. They seemed slightly nervous but gave a splendid presentation and impressively conveyed their ideas clearly to many employees. After the presentation, the students were asked how they felt about the experience. They commented, "There were times when we didn't agree, but it was fun to make the presentation together" and "I could only suggest specific shop names, but my team members suggested facilities based on well-thought-out reasons." This experience became a trigger for them to discover new perspectives. The instructors wanted the students to experience the joy and challenges of working as a team to create something, given that they had decided to participate in the work experience of a comprehensive architecture design firm like our company. It seems they learned this thoroughly through the three-day experience. They appeared to be able to learn this fully through the three-day experience.
A question-and-answer session with senior employees was also held at the end, and the students enthusiastically asked questions such as what is essential for working adults and what is rewarding about this job, listening attentively to the answers.
In a few years' time, they will start thinking about their future, and may find themselves unsure of which path to take. When that happens, we hope this experience will help them to remember what they have learned here, and give them some clues.
