Environmental Design that Resonates with People's Emotions

Ever since losing my mother to cancer when I was in my third year of junior high school, I have thought deeply about loss. I still remember the time we spent together before she passed away. In a space partitioned by a curtain, there was a bed and a television. The hospital room, a jumble of sadness and happiness, was utterly sterile. Although the sunlight streaming through the window felt pleasant, I had resigned myself to the idea that the scarcity of smiles was an inevitable fate of hospitals.

However, when I visited the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston after my mother's death, images of a forest spread across the walls. The chirping of small birds echoed through the building, and every aspect of the design was created for the patients. Even if hair fell in the hallways due to side effects, it was strangely unnoticeable in front of the murals. It seems that this kind of hospital art has effects such as reducing the length of hospital stays and lowering medication dosages. From the perspective of a user of medical facilities, I came to want to design more comforting and peaceful environments.

I entered SFC with the desire to learn comprehensive design methods, focusing on spatial design. Here, there is an environment where one can study all aspects of design, including architecture, graphics, and spatial design.

I love to express myself and have presented works on the theme of death. In the fall of my first year, my research titled "DEATH EDUCATION" was selected for the Eccentric Research Grant Program. At a research session for grant recipients, I met Professor Hajime Ishikawa, and with his advice, I held an exhibition event called "Coffin Photo Studio." Thinking he was a professor who would find what I wanted to express interesting, I joined the Hajime Ishikawa Lab in the fall of my second year. Apparently, senior students who had been researching death as a theme were already members of this lab, and they welcomed me with a feeling of, "Here comes another 'death' person."

As a student studying design with a focus on the theme of death, I have spoken with over 200 people who have experienced bereavement. I have visited various types of bereavement groups and found that the sorrow of loss is diverse, stemming from illness, suicide, stillbirth, and more.

In my third year, my research on "Changes in Views of Life and Death Due to Transformations in Funerary Practices" was selected for the Yamagishi Student Project Support Program. Utilizing the fieldwork skills I developed in the Hajime Ishikawa Lab, I conducted a cemetery survey on Yoron Island in Kagoshima Prefecture, a region where the culture of burial remains. While traditional funerary cultures such as home funerals and burials remain strong, a crematorium was built in 2003 and a funeral hall in 2011. General funerals and cremations at funeral facilities are becoming more common, allowing me to observe the process of change in funerary culture. I have continued to collaborate with Yota Maeda, also from SFC, although we are in different labs. Based on the shared understanding that "it's not just humans; companies and buildings also have various ways of ending," I participated in the founding of Mujō Inc. In the online exhibitions "Dead Mother's Day Exhibition" and "Dead Father's Day Exhibition," we had bereaved family members write not only their gratitude to the deceased but also their regrets, anger at fate, and other emotions.

Through research, creative work, and business, I want to continue pursuing ways to give back my ideas to society.

In the Hajime Ishikawa Lab, we are engaged in activities to re-examine regions from the perspective of 'chijogaku' (terrestrial studies). We advance collaborative projects in a training-camp-like environment, living and eating together with our peers at the lab's base, the Nu Building (Docomo House). The professor might passionately discuss design while cooking—this kind of closeness is unique to SFC. Once a month, the lab members have an activity called a "Land Walk," where we go out into the community to observe the town. Through discussions among students about the characteristics of the area, I have developed the skill of appreciating landscapes. Although I was originally interested in the spatial design of hospitals, my focus has now shifted to the design of 'tōrai' (mourning). I am also grateful for the environment that allows me to freely choose lectures to match these changes in myself. I am supplementing the knowledge I lack by taking courses in business administration, which is useful for managing a company, and psychology, which is necessary for environmental design.

Recently, I have also become interested in cemetery design. For some time, I have had the simple feeling that, for me, my late mother is always and everywhere, so I couldn't understand why we pray only at gravesites or family altars. I sometimes think it would be nice if I could create a grave for my mother that I designed myself. The forms of mourning are diversifying. Leveraging what I have learned at SFC, I want to be able to propose cemeteries, as well as spaces and landscapes for mourning, that are suited to the times.