SFC Building Names and the Origin of Greek Letters

2022/02/28

Image: From left, Kappa (κ ), Epsilon (ε), Iota (ι), and Omicron (ο) Buildings

Last autumn, in a street interview, a person being interviewed said, "The something-or-other variant..." Since it wasn't familiar to many people yet, it was natural for it to become "something-or-other." However, those associated with SFC (including many alumni) must have given a wry smile with mixed feelings. When we hear "Omicron," we immediately think of the campus.

After getting off the bus at SFC, climbing the main grand staircase, and walking for a while, you will see four buildings of the same shape lined up. From the left, they are the Kappa, Epsilon, Iota, and Omicron Buildings (all research and classroom buildings), arranged as κ, ε, ι, and ο. The main building housing the administration office is Alpha (Α) Building, the large lecture hall building is Theta (Θ) Building, and the building with the co-op store and cafeteria is Sigma (Σ) Building; SFC buildings have been called by Greek letters since the campus was established. While there seemed to be some confusion at first, now even courier services and food deliveries understand the Greek letters. Of course, it would be problematic to be going back and forth saying "Kappa?" when calling for an emergency vehicle. It seems that "official" building names are determined separately.

I heard that over thirty years ago, when designing SFC, Greek letters were chosen while envisioning the creation of a new source of knowledge. The detention basin is nicknamed "Theatron," and the gymnasium is "Arena." The "Agora," where faculty and staff converse, is held regularly, and notices of personnel changes arrive via a newsletter called "Pantheon." Many things are named with consistency. Thinking of it that way, standing at the bottom of the grand staircase, it looks like the approach to a giant temple.

Since its founding, our campus has gradually expanded. The "Miraisozojuku (Institute for Designing the Future)" project currently underway on campus began in 2007. Despite various twists and turns, including the worsening economic situation, all the buildings on the east side were completed in the autumn of 2020 as residential education and research facilities. Construction of a student dormitory is progressing on the site to the west, and students are scheduled to begin moving in in the spring of 2023.

Now, what to call the new buildings? Since the east side was created with students, faculty, and staff involved in the design and construction, we decided to call the series of buildings "β Village." It became "Beta (β)" with pride in the concept of always being "under construction" (continuously updating). On the other hand, since the student dormitory will be a base for living, it was decided to use the Η (Eta) from "House" and call it "Η Village." Fortunately, neither β nor Η had been used yet, so we were able to decide while considering the characteristics of the locations. And I realized that most of the letters have already been used.

(Fumitoshi Kato, Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance, Professor at the Faculty of Environment and Information Studies)