DAY 26, CRAZY?

He sat down next to us interns at the lunch table in the common area. He had a bowl of salad, a bread and a drumstick. He arranged the bowls and the dishes, stared in amusement, rearranged the dishes, and the looked at us for confirmation.
The next thing you know, he started eating like it is the best meal he had in his life, and that he didn't eat anything for a very long time.

"You came from Japan right? "

In order to not let him feel awkward having us staring at him eating, I asked a very obvious question, in attempt to try to start a conversation.
He stopped eating and looked at me.

"I told myself, whenever someone asks me a question about me, I will ask them to answer the same question themselves first."

I laughed a bit in the inside, this man is very interesting.
So I told him a bit about my background, and so did he.
This process repeated a few times and he gave up.

"I don't think this idea works at all does it..."

Then he asked the question that raised a thought in my mind, about what I am supposed to accomplish in this work term, at school, or even in my future career.

"Do you think we have the responsibility to make architecture beautiful?"

If we agree that we are supposed to make architecture beautiful, why is it that in the company right now, when we see designs that are ugly and doesn't make sense, we are too afraid to voice out our opinions? He challenged us to a dare, he said before you interns leave the office, do something bold and brave. Voice out on one project that you think is ugly, tell the designers in the face,

"This design is ugly."

Let's say when you and your friends are flipping through an architectural magazine and you find a really bad design, you will probably make fun of it.
Then imagine the project you are working on, the thing that even you yourself think that it is ugly, it will probably appear on a magazine, and someone will point at it and say how it sucks.
Do not be satisfied with a design that will put you in that position.
If you think that the design doesn't even make sense, why stick with it and sacrifice your ambition and standards for design?
I don't think I recorded the conversation very well in words, but at that moment I was amazed, in how passionate this person can be about architecture. Other colleagues think that he is weird, but I am dying to know more about him, to talk to him more so that I will have the same amount of passion to create something that will stun the world.

Another colleague stared at him while he was talking. The japanese looked over to the dutch and said if you stay in this office for too long, you will slowly become more and more boring.

"Better than being crazy". replied the dutch.

"You can be boring and serious when even when you are young, but in the end you are just an imitation of an older, serious person, just without the same amount of knowledge.", The japanese guy looked at us while joking with the dutch.
To me, he suddenly became the most interesting person in the office.

-Jon