Seismic diagnosis, design for refurbishment

Increases buildings’ seismic
capacities for longer and safer use.

Seismic diagnosis,
design for refurbishment

Mio Mochizuki
Joined in 2007
Graduated from School of Engineering,
Department of Architecture,
Kansai University

Understand buildings’ constraint conditions and responding to clients’ requests

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake struck in 2011, social awareness of earthquake resistance of buildings has increased, and I receive more requests for seismic diagnosis or design for reinforcement/refurbishment than before. In the earthquake in southern Hyogo Prefecture in 1995, many of the buildings designed before the revision to the Building Standards Law in 1981 were seriously damaged, and there are still quite many buildings not meeting the revised building standards. It is our mission to verify the safety of such buildings and conduct appropriate refurbishment or reinforcement as necessary. Targeted structures are diverse, including buildings, collective housing, factories, and even cultural properties such as Kokura Castle. For ordinary buildings, I consider the status of the structures as well as the clients’ requests such as they do not want any influence on the exterior appearance, or they hope to use the building while reinforcement work, and I try to suggest the best suited construction method. In cases of cultural properties, on the other hand, it is a condition that such social assets keep their appearance as much as possible, and therefore ingenious attempts are further required in renovation design.

Taking action to grab “the work you want”

You may have an image that our work is “to do what the company undertakes to do,” but that is not all. It is a KKE’s style that we pull in work based on our own will by appealing to the sales staff about "what kind of work we want to do” and “what we can do.” Although not in every case, we are allowed to define a direction of our own work, and that gives us high motivation. The most impressive work I did since I joined KKE was a renovation design for a certain cultural property. I struggled very hard with no experienced person around to ask for help and not knowing what was the right answer. Figuring out everything from scratch, including how to model a building and how to analyze and evaluate it, I could finally manage to get it into shape after spending a whole year. Although I was filled with anxiety along the way about the uncertainty of the work, I was able to get through by saying to myself that “I will be second to none in this field if I can accomplish this project.”

SCHEDULE

My ordinary day

9:00 a.m.

Arrive at work, check progress of the team, meeting
10:00 a.m.

Design and analytical work
12:00 noon

Lunch
1:30 p.m.

Meeting with a client
3:30 p.m.

Design and analytical work, adjust policies
4:00 p.m.

In-house review (video conference)
5:00 p.m.

Continue the design and analytical work
8:00 p.m.

Leave office

We are given “a stage to implement the challenge”

KKE is a company that gives each of us a fair evaluation, regardless of educational background whether you are an undergraduate or postgraduate. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree, but I never feel being treated differently in terms of work allocation. In the conduct of my work, I have many colleagues willing to help me solve problems, so I can enjoy working with them. I also like the corporate culture where "I can take on a challenge for what I want to do" instead of just implementing a given mission. If I were to express KKE in my own words, it is a company that gives a challenger a motive and a stage for implementation. Personally speaking, I have a strong interest in preservation of cultural properties and making proposals on disaster preparedness for companies’ business continuity. My idea is to take advantage of this environment where the company encourages staffs to take on a challenge, and to pave the way in the new field where there is no existing solution in place such as those for cultural properties.

OTHER