We made it! The architecture students completed their studio. We didn’t know what to expect with the TUJ architecture program and Tokyo overall because there weren’t any upperclassmen to advise us. So here I am going to provide an account of TUJ architecture program.
Our class consisted of 8 junior architecture students from Temple main campus, 1 Temple main campus grad, and a 4th year student from Illinois Institute of Technology. Our studio professor was James Lambiasi (Jim), who helped all the students, that requested, receive an architecture internship. So if you’re an architecture student that wants to locate an architecture internship, reach out to him (even before you arrive to Tokyo)!
The program was well-rounded. The focus was urban planning and architecture. For the first month and 1/2, we analyzed the city of Tokyo. We were given areas, stations, structures, buildings, and much more to explore and analyze. This was a great aspect of the program because we got to explore the city, get familiarized with it, and become comfortable traveling. We also become more aware of Japanese architectural design and culture, and we learned so much more than we expected. We presented our observations and analysis through an architectural presentation of maps and diagrams.
Jim was very selective on choosing the jurors. Our jurors were highly knowledgeable about the area, which created strong conversations.
