Architect Melanie Turner has a love of Japanese architecture, a noteworthy favorite mug + more in this week's Friday Five!

In third grade, an architect visited Melanie Turner?s school and asked the students to draw a plan of their homes. That moment, coupled with art classes since she was six and drafting classes in high school, jump started her interest in design. Melanie spent her childhood in upstate New York, Tokyo and the Bronx, exposed to the differences in the human condition. These experiences formed her belief that the opportunity for good design occurs in the places where people meet the built environment. Currently Melanie works at Perkins&Will in San Francisco. 
In her spare time, Melanie enjoys visiting art galleries, perfecting her billiards skills and is always in search of the meal that can give her the biggest ?food hug.? Her family includes her husband, Rich, and her young son, Arlo. Today Melanie is joining us for Friday Five!
Public restroom outside of Osaka Castle Park by Endo Shuhei. Love that even this kind of structure is treated as a design opportunity. Here?s a blog post on Spoon & Tamago listing some others.
1. Japanese Architecture

My first awareness of a building was my grandparents? home in Japan.  I don?t quite remember the layout, but I remember sliding the shoji screens open and feeling like I was floating between the floor and ceiling ? a part of the surrounding rice paddy fields and country roads. I remember the closet...