Improving infrastructure through technological developments in concrete
- The joys of being a specialist
Chief,Construction System and Materials Department, Technical Research Institute, Obayashi Corporation P.E.Jp(Civil Engineering). Authorized Chief Concrete Engineer, Authorized Concrete Diagnosis & Maintenance Engineer
Keisaburo Katano
Building safe roads – research, planning and construction
The Japanese archipelago spans a long distance from north to south, with temperatures varying as much as 50°C between the two points. The four seasons are distinct, resulting in a diverse range of wildlife, water quality and soil. Infrastructure in Japan is well developed. Where there are people, there are roads, even on remote islands. And where possible, the roads are built using local materials, around natural landscapes, to connect communities. Road-users are mostly unaware of the careful planning and civil engineering that go into the design, construction and maintenance of roads, bridges and tunnels. Even fewer people realize that the safety of these structures is due to the development of highly durable concrete and its manufacturing technologies. Keisaburo Katano is a young researcher advancing such developments. In his role at Obayashi Corporation - a major construction company with a leading track record in the research and development of construction technology - he is indispensable. Katano says that he never imagined becoming a researcher, but for a twist of fate when he was in high school, when he picked up an architecture magazine by chance, and found his calling.
Fascinated by aesthetics, he decided to studying architecture. The only route that came to mind was Tohoku University.
As a young boy, Katano was fond of problem-solving games such as puzzles and crosswords. He was the kind of child that asked a lot of questions. Looking back, he thinks he was influenced by his grandfather who loved studying and who often turned to dictionaries to learn more. “Even now, I look up the meanings and etymology of interesting words that come up in casual conversations,” says Katano. “But it doesn't mean that I was a bookworm. I played soccer until junior high school, and was passionate about skateboarding in high school. I was an ordinary kid who loved playing outdoors with friends.” And then one day, he picked up an architecture magazine. He found himself fascinated with the works of Frank Gehry and Antoni Gaudí, and never got tired of looking at pictures of architecturally designed buildings. Because he thought he wasn’t artistic enough to design exteriors, he decided that he would focus on building inner structures instead. To prepare himself for such a career, the only university that sprang to mind was Tohoku University. “Everything about it, from the grades I needed to get in, the tuition fees, to the distance from my family home was ideal. Tohoku University was the best choice for me to study architecture in this region,” he says. A year's worth of hard work and effort paid off, and he passed the entrance exam in his senior year of high school. When the lectures actually started, Katano could sense how motivated his classmates were, and the environment suited him well. He felt himself steadily getting closer to his dream of engineering architectural structures.
A surprising encounter with civil engineering. - Appreciation for engineers with integrity.
A crossroad appeared when Katano first learned that there was a difference between “civil engineering” and “architectural engineering” in a lecture during his sophomore year. For Katano, who had until then only thought about architecture, this encounter with civil engineering was a surprise. “I felt that while civil engineering doesn’t have the aesthetic beauty of architecture, it performs amazing functions. Bridges, dams and tunnels are found everywhere, and are taken for granted,” he says. “There are engineers who play a crucial role in supporting such critical infrastructure even if they are not noticed or thanked. I was deeply moved by this fact. They truly are unsung heroes.” Having attended a lecture about concrete engineering during his junior year, he was fascinated by its depth and decided to join the concrete engineering research lab in his senior year. Under the tutelage of concrete research expert Professor Makoto Hisada, Katano immersed himself in his graduation research. His subject was: “Research on the Penetration Behavior of Chloride Ions into Concrete.” Because reinforcing steel rusts inside concrete near the sea, his graduation research investigated how seawater penetrates concrete. He also successfully passed the entrance exam to graduate school while he was conducting his graduation research. It was around this time that he became increasingly interested in seeking employment overseas.
Chief,Construction System and Materials Department, Technical Research Institute, Obayashi Corporation P.E.Jp(Civil Engineering). Authorized Chief Concrete Engineer, Authorized Concrete Diagnosis & Maintenance Engineer
Keisaburo Katano
Katano graduated from Asaka High School in Fukushima Prefecture in 2002. In 2006, he received a degree in Civil Engineering from the School of Engineering at Tohoku University, and stayed on to do graduate studies at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. After completing his graduate degree in March 2008, he joined Obayashi Corporation in April of the same year. Soon after, Katano worked on installing energy storage tanks in tunnel construction and in removing ceiling panels in an aging tunnel. He is currently pursuing the latest in concrete research at Obayashi Corporation's testing center.