The East Research Building at Mita
2018/06/26
When Keio University is featured on television, the East Research Building at Mita is often used for establishing shots. Facing National Route 1 and Mita-dori Avenue, its eye-catching features include an arcade with a large, triumphal arch-like opening and a red-brick style modeled after the Old University Library. It was completed in the spring of 2000 as a facility for the Global Security Research Center (G-SEC), a research hub that received a grant from the government's "Academic Frontier" Project.
The impetus for the construction of the East Research Building was the widening of Mita-dori Avenue. The road was designated as a city planning road, and a decision was made to carry out widening work. This required the area near the East Gate to be set back about 10 meters from the road boundary, which would have cut into the beginning of the slope leading up to the East Gate, creating a large step.
Around the same time, planning began for the construction of a facility for G-SEC. This, combined with the plans to modify the slope due to the widening of Mita-dori Avenue, led to the decision that the land around the East Gate was the optimal site for the G-SEC facility, and thus the East Research Building was constructed. As a result, the building took over the function of the former East Gate, and access to the campus from Mita-dori Avenue now goes through the East Research Building. Along with this change, the Umadome-ishi (horse-tethering stones)—said to have been used to tie up horses during the era of the former residence of the Shimabara Domain and previously located by the East Gate's gateposts and ramp—were relocated to a spot up the ramp to the south, after passing through the East Research Building.
The East Research Building is connected to the campus courtyard by a bridge on the third floor, and the floors up to this level are dedicated to the arcade. Consequently, the actual usable room space is located on the fourth floor and above. The fourth and fifth floors contain research spaces, seminar rooms, and offices. The sixth and seventh floors house the "G-Lab" (formerly G-SECLab), a two-story laboratory for research presentations equipped with a multi-screen display. The top floor, the eighth, is a hall. The East Research Building is thus primarily used as a space for research purposes. The Global Security Research Center was reorganized into the Keio Global Research Institute (KGRI) in 2016.
Before the East Research Building was constructed, a steel East Gate stood at the top of a gentle slope. On the right side of this slope was a small, wooden post office (the Keiogijuku-mae Post Office). Many may remember this scene. Furthermore, until 1969 (Showa 44), the Toden streetcar ran along Mita-dori Avenue (Line 3: Shinagawa Station–Fuda-no-tsuji–Toranomon–Iidabashi), and there was a stop in front of Keio University.
Below The Pen Mark, above the arcade entrances on both the east and west sides of the East Research Building, the Latin inscription "HOMO NEC VLLVS CVIQVAMPRAEPOSITVSNEC SVBDITVS CREATVR" is engraved, which means "It is said that heaven does not create one man above or below another man. Any existing distinction between the wise and the stupid, between the rich and the poor, comes down to a matter of education."
(The Editors)