Sosokan

2016/11/11

Sosokan is a building with seven floors above ground and two below, combining a glass-walled oval dome structure. Due to its distinctive exterior and its location at the main entrance of the campus, it has been a symbol of Yagami-dai since its completion in January 2000. An ellipse has two focal points, which are used here to represent the two roles of a university—"neutrality from society" and "commitment to society"—expressing the importance of balancing them as a guiding principle.

This oval section features an atrium that extends from the first to the sixth floor, where a light monument modeled on the helical structure of DNA is installed. Designed by Motoko Ishii, it, along with the light messages embedded in the outer walls, the floor outside the oval, and the seventh-floor forum, represents the presence of a university in a new era and a future where art and technology merge.

The construction plan for Sosokan was developed over many years alongside discussions on the comprehensive transformation of the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Graduate School of Science and Technology, including the reorganization of undergraduate faculties and departments (1996), the reorganization of the graduate school structure (2000), and the establishment of the Keio Leading-edge Laboratory of Science and Technology (KLL) (2000). The name "Sosokan" embodies the meaning of a hub for realizing the ideals of this comprehensive transformation and fulfilling the university's mission through the great human abilities of "creation" and "imagination."

KLL was established at the same time as Sosokan and has developed as an organization that promotes and supports industry-academia-government collaboration activities. Many projects have been advanced in spaces centered around Sosokan, and their results have been disseminated from there. Today, it has also become an educational and research hub for the Department of Mathematics and the Department of Biosciences and Informatics, with faculty and students from various fields coming and going.

Furthermore, Sosokan is a comprehensive building with diverse functions, based on common-use areas (common places) and open spaces. On the first floor, the open and quiet space of the Media Center for Science and Technology (Matsushita Memorial Library) extends, and the student communication room serves as a place for free conversation. The second floor and above house seminar rooms and discussion spaces of various sizes, while the basement floors contain a multi-media room capable of hosting conferences and symposiums for several hundred people, and the Information Technology Center (ITC) for Science and Technology.

Additionally, the semi-active seismic isolation system, developed at the Faculty of Science and Technology and incorporated into the building's foundation, is an expression of the effort toward safety and security, and it prevented accidents from falling books and chemicals during the Great East Japan Earthquake.

The Faculty of Science and Technology celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2014. While retaining the desire embodied in Sosokan to pioneer a new era, the challenge toward its 100th anniversary has begun.

(Tomohiro Ozaki, Manager, General Affairs Section, Faculty of Science and Technology)