Planning an internship vol.2 -Conversation-

NOMURA Co., Ltd. holds an internship every year, but this year marks the second year that it has been held completely online. In this nomlog, we will report on the review of the internship conducted this year as a series of articles "Planning an internship vol.2".
The preparation here
Implementation version here

In this article, as a summary of the internship held in the fall of 2021, about 100 students made up three times in total about the preliminary assignments that the students worked on individually and the group assignments that they worked on as a team. Looking at the proposal, the three people who were in charge of planning the internship looked back.

Three people who were in charge of planning this internship. Yamada, Horii, Morita from the left
* Some masks are removed only when shooting

Create a place where people can interact and change

―― How did you feel when you looked back at the pre-assignments submitted by the students?

Morita
“As a general trend, I was impressed by the fact that there were few ideas to create some kind of building, and there were many outdoor proposals.”

Yamada
“There were many mobile sales, workshops, and pop-up stores.”

Morita
“Rather than a facility that will continue to be used for decades, I would like to make it a place that changes as people interact with it.”

Horii
“The purpose is not to create a box, but to create a space for people to gather.”

Morita
"That's why I feel that there were many proposals for fixtures and the like, rather than architectural voluminousness and design."

Yamada
“The theme of the pre-assignment this time was redefinition and reuse of unused land, but some people were thinking without setting specific place names and locations. , I thought it was an interesting point of view, setting an unnamed place in the city with an original name.”

Horii
“That person has a unique point of view.”

Yamada
“There were also people who thought of a lot of content that could be deployed in various places, like flash ideas, by perceiving unused land as versatile.”

Horii
"It's a soft proposal."

Morita
"If you create an original name, you'll be surprised."

Yamada
"That's right. It's a unique theory, but it was interesting to read the proposals that you made your own hypotheses and led to your own conclusions."

Research to visualize the process of generating ideas

Horii
"I thought it would be good to have a proposal that properly researched precedents. For example, I researched the ordinances and precedents of the area I chose as the target area and analyzed it based on quantitative data. is"

Yamada
"I see. It's not just about researching, it's also important where you look from research."

Horii
“That’s right. It’s not a research to season the proposal, but a research to visualize the process of uncovering your own ideas.”

Yamada
"It's important to show the other party why you came up with the proposal, rather than just talking about the idea."

Morita
“I think there weren’t many articles that focused on thinking like, “What is unused land?” You did."

Horii
“It would be nice to know what you don't know, what you need to research for that, and what discoveries you've made as a result of that research.”

The difficulty and joy of thinking about a project as a team

―― The preliminary assignment was individual work, but in the internship, we had the team work on the assignment. What was your impression?

Horii
“I got the impression that it would be difficult to think about group work issues as the perspective of social good has increased in addition to unused land. Since it was a theme that came up on the day, there were many things that I didn't think deeply about."

Yamada
“That’s right. This is also a point of reflection for us who created the assignment, but even though we had an interesting point of view in the preliminary assignment, when it became a team proposal, it was weak or the team was not able to express it. I feel like everyone was having a hard time.”

Morita
“I think one of the strengths of the team is how broadly they have a point of view. Whether they can see themselves objectively.”

Horii
“Planning ability is a different thing, isn’t it? Especially this time, I will form a team with people I met for the first time, so I think it was very difficult to understand the intention of the remarks.”

Yamada
“When I look at the teams that received high evaluations for their presentations, everyone on the team was able to share the fun of someone else’s idea. Once the guidelines were decided, I think it became easier for everyone to come up with various ideas.”

Morita
“The team that was able to share many case studies and ideas at the beginning may have led to easier work in the second half.”

Horii
“It was not necessarily the case that the teams that progressed smoothly with few conflicts ended up in the top ranks. Teams that make good proposals are excited, but there are people who are not satisfied with the proposals. Actually, there are about one person."

Morita
“Sometimes people like that give me a startling realization.”

Yamada
“As the team points out and resolves any areas of concern, and the ideas are fleshed out more and more, the accuracy of the proposal increases.”

Don't stop at methods, think about the content of specific experiences

―― Were there any trends in the content of the proposals through the preliminary assignments and team assignments?

Morita
“There were many proposals for mobility. Also, I think there were many ideas about coexistence between nature and the city.”

Horii
"I felt the same way about the pre-work, but it's not a so-called 'hokomono' proposal, where the floor, walls, and ceiling are properly tailored."

Morita
“It was impressive that there were many proposals such as 'a space used by many people' and 'a space that grows variably.'"

Yamada
“There were teams whose proposals ended with just the words “events” and “workshops,” so I wanted to go one step further and ask them about their content.”

Morita
"So you're stuck with the method."

Yamada
“If you think about events and workshops and what kind of content they are for and for whom, I think that the proposals are unique to the place and the team.”

While looking back at the proposals submitted by the students, the discussion spread to topics that are relevant to their daily work, such as planning concepts and approaches when working in teams.​

What is the joy of working at NOMURA Co., Ltd.?

―― In closing, please say a few words to the students.

Horii
“Social good and unused land must have been very difficult. No matter what I researched, I couldn’t come up with a clear answer. However, if you can find some fun in it, you will surely enjoy your work.

Morita
“How did you like the internship at our company, where you could become a space professional for 2 days with the new members? The ideas and ways of thinking of the students were very stimulating for us. I think the real pleasure of doing is to work together as a team to come up with new ideas that have never existed in the world and to solve social issues.You can feel such fun and difficulty during the two-day internship. We would be happy if we could do it.”

Yamada
“This internship was designed to give students a feel for how NOMURA Co., Ltd. works. I would be happy if everyone could enjoy the process of working as a team.”

-- thank you very much.
(Planning: Mao Horii, Eri Morita, Chika Yamada / Text: Chika Yamada / Photo: Hideki Sato)