For Masahiro Iwano of Japanese contractor Taisei Corporation, geotechnical engineering has always been the path on which life would take him. Take his last name, Iwano. “Iwa” means rock masses and in Chinese characters “no” means field, he explains. “I was very interested in natural science in my childhood and simply chose geotechnical engineering as my calling.”

Currently Masahiro lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey, working as a project manager for the Marmaray Project, which includes construction of an immersed tube under the Bosphorus Strait, four stations and a total of 13km of tunnels. Of the project, working on a tunnel that the country had dreamed of for 150 years is quite interesting, he says, especially at they get closer and closer to realizing it.

Originally from Fukuoka, Kyushu Island, Japan, he went on to Tokyo University, to study natural and social science for two years. Afterwards, he studied civil engineering and, mainly, geotechnical engineering for another two years.

After graduation, Masahiro stayed in Tokyo and started working with Taisei as a design engineer in civil engineering. It was at this point that he learned tunnel design and the structural support systems of tunnels, particularly tunnels built by New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM) or the Sequential Excavation Method (SEM).

“I also extensively used numerical analysis such as the Finite Element Method (FEM) to simulate the mechanical deformation of tunnels due to excavation and to evaluate tunnel stability,” he explains.

In 1988 he left Japan for the US where he attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and lived in Boston. A student of the graduate school, he completed Course1, which focuses on civil and environmental engineering.

“During my stay at MIT, geotechnical engineering, especially the rock mechanics and underground constructions, was a major field of study for me,” Masahiro says. For his Ph.D, he focused on hydro-mechanical characterization of jointed rock masses. And after he completed his Ph.D in 1995, he was promoted to manager of Tunneling & Underground Construction at Taisei.

For the last 15 years he’s been working on construction projects ranging from nuclear power plants, to an underground hydraulic power cavern and road tunnels. “Tunnelling works are very exciting, dynamic and fascinating,” he says, “particularly blasting.”

He also enjoys the camaraderie the tunnelling industry offers. In Istanbul he spends his spare time travelling in Europe with friends and has visited many of Turkey’s World Heritage sites. He points out that Istanbul was chosen as one of Europe’s Capitals of Culture for 2010. With one of the station’s worksites in the heart of the city’s historical district, he’s only a few steps away from a lush green park and vibrant street cafes.

For the last Byram (a Turkish national holiday week in September) he travelled to Estonia and to Finland to visit Sandvik’s mining and construction factory to check out new tunnelling machines and drilling control systems. But it’s not all work—after visiting the factory he had the chance to race rally cars at a circuit course. “I need more practice on driving techniques to win,” he says and is looking forward to WTC 2011 in Helsinki when a rematch can be arranged.

Back in Istanbul, though, he stays off the roads. Traffic is heavy and crossing the Bosphorus from his office on the eastern side of the city to worksites on the western side is a timely process with limited routes. He makes the best of the situation by often letting someone else take the wheel while he works from within the car.

He points out that the Turkish government is starting to survey a different area of the Bosphorus Strait for another potential tunnel. When he is finished working on the Marmaray Project in a few years, he would like to work here again. “Istanbul is a fascinating city, like my home city, Tokyo. But the difference from Tokyo is a very exotic atmosphere,” he says. “I like very much living in Istanbul, and my Turkish friends and colleagues.”


Masahiro Iwano