[Special Dialogue] "The Genealogy of Keio Architecture"

Today, I am very pleased to host a dialogue titled "The Genealogy of Keio Architecture" featuring two prominent architects and Keio University alumni, Mr. Fumihiko Maki and Mr. Yoshio Taniguchi. Both are graduates of Keio and have also studied at Harvard University, and they share a very strong relationship with Mr. Kenzo Tange. Furthermore, both have designed many of Keio's buildings. Today, focusing primarily on Keio's architecture, I would like to hear about your past architectural works, your friendships, and your lives as architects.

Thank you. I am Maki. First, I would like to talk about the relationship between the Maki family and Keio University.

My great-grandfather, Kotaro Maki, was a samurai of the Nagaoka Domain. After losing in the Boshin War, the family scattered to Sendai and then to Aizu. Kotaro felt that the era of the samurai was over and that the era of learning had begun, so he knocked on the door of Yukichi Fukuzawa. His son was Takeshi Maki, my grandfather. Takeshi had five sons, and my father was the third. The eldest son was Tomoo Maki, who served as Vice-President under President Shinzo Koizumi around the time the Yochisha moved to Tengenji. I have heard that it was Tomoo Maki who commissioned Mr. Yoshio Taniguchi's father, Mr. Yoshiro Taniguchi, to design the current Tengenji building (Yochisha Main Building ①).

In my generation, including my cousins, everyone went to Keio; it was decided from the start that "you are going to Keio." However, since I didn't go to kindergarten, I didn't understand why I had come to the testing site until the day of the Yochisha entrance exam. So, I came home without being able to answer anything the teacher said. Even so, they let me in (laughs).

When I entered, the Yochisha was still in Mita. There was a road on the north side of the Mita property, and it was immediately on the right after entering. The Yochisha building had become quite old by the time I entered. At lunchtime, I was envious of the upperclassmen who bought and ate large cream buns or jam buns. I thought that when I grew up, I wanted to eat like that, but after moving to Tengenji halfway through, that service no longer existed (laughs).

When you entered the back gate of Mita (now the West Gate), there was a slope, and as you went up, the Old Library was on the left and the Jukukan-kyoku was on the right. In front of that was a courtyard, and when I was a child, you could see the sea from there, with ships sailing slowly by. It was a very impressive hill.

Later, in the third term of my second year, we moved to Tengenji. The new Yochisha Main Building was a wonderful building, and I thoroughly enjoyed the remaining four years there. We were told, "From now on, you are going to the best school in the Orient." At that time, the expression "best in the Orient" was used as something above "best in Japan." I think there was a very strong will to create a fine building here for Keio University.

This is the Yochisha Workshop (②), where the teacher is at the top and the students can work below. I believe it still exists today. There was also a Science Room (③), with desks that were rare for that time. The Yochisha in Tengenji had such very impressive features. What made me happiest was being able to go directly from the second floor to the playground via the stairs; everyone was running around energetically. Thanks to Mr. Taniguchi, I was able to spend my elementary school years in a very happy architectural environment. I think this was very good for me even after I became an architect in later years.

In my memory, my grandfather Takeshi lived in Masago-cho, Hongo. Masago-cho was on a hill a little west of the corner of Hongo 3-chome, not far from the University of Tokyo. I have heard that Mr. Yoshiro Taniguchi used to visit there occasionally when he was still a student at the University of Tokyo. I feel that such an acquaintance may have existed since that time.

I am Yoshio Taniguchi, an architect. It is a pleasure to be here. As Mr. Maki just mentioned, our families have been associated for two generations, and we meet quite often. Usually, our topics are everyday matters, but today, being in front of everyone in a different atmosphere, I am a bit at a loss as to how to speak.

Now, I would like to introduce some of the architecture of my father, Yoshiro Taniguchi. First, the Tokyo Institute of Technology Hydraulics Laboratory (④); this was a building located next to the entrance of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Ookayama. It was the very first building my father worked on. Its proportions were those of the International Style architecture that was beginning to be introduced to Japan at the time. It was a very fine building composed entirely of abstract lines and planes, but because it was a hydraulics laboratory, mercury from the water accumulated, and it was demolished about 20 years ago.

Did Mr. Taniguchi become a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology immediately after graduating from the University of Tokyo?

That's right. From the graduate school of the University of Tokyo, he was invited as a lecturer to the Tokyo Institute of Technology, which was a new university, and became an associate professor at the age of 27. As mentioned earlier, the first time Mr. Maki and my father met was at your grandfather's house in Hongo, and I think he visited there often. The first thing my father designed was the Maki family grave.

My father designed about 70 graves and monuments throughout his life. He used to say himself, "Since I design nothing but graves, people say it would be more fitting to write 'Grave-master' (Boshi) instead of 'Doctor' (Hakushi)" (laughs).

I was also supposed to enter the grave created by Mr. Taniguchi, but since my father was adopted into another Maki family that had no children, I am to enter a grave that I designed myself (laughs).

The first Keio building my father designed was, as Mr. Maki mentioned, the Yochisha Main Building, which was completed in 1937, the year I was born. To list other representative works, this is the Student Hall on the Mita Campus (1949 ⑤), built after the war.

This was later relocated to the North Gate area, but it disappeared in the early 1990s. My father often collaborated with artists, and for this building, Mr. Genichiro Inokuma painted the mural "Democracy" (⑥). In the dark world following the war, Mr. Inokuma's mural was a very bright painting. That building no longer exists, but the mural alone was moved and is now inside the Co-op Cafeteria in the West School Building on the Mita Campus.

That is wonderful.

Mr. Inokuma's most famous mural is the large one titled "Freedom" at Ueno Station. At that time, the first thing that greeted young people who came to Tokyo from the countryside for group employment was this painting celebrating bright youth. It still exists today.

You designed the Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art in Shikoku, didn't you?

Yes. I designed the Marugame Genichiro Inokuma Museum of Contemporary Art (1991) in Marugame, Shikoku.

It is a very wonderful museum, and things created through the Taniguchi family connection still remain today.

My father designed 26 buildings for Keio. There are the wards of Keio Hospital (Clinical Research Building), and besides architecture, there is a monument called the "Birthplace of Keio University Monument" in Akashi-cho, Tsukiji. I only received three commissions, though (laughs).

You mentioned earlier that there were interactions with artists; a famous one is the collaboration with Isamu Noguchi, the Banraisha (Noguchi Room) (⑦⑧).

Mr. Inokuma was a famous painter and at the same time a patron-like figure for architects and artists. It was Mr. Inokuma who introduced Mr. Kenzo Tange to Takamatsu and Hiroshima, and who introduced Isamu Noguchi to my father.

Tomoo Maki was involved in Keio's facilities and worked hard to acquire land from Tokyu to create the Hiyoshi Campus. That is why several of Mr. Taniguchi's architectural works are in Hiyoshi.

That's right. Going back to before the war, the Hiyoshi dormitory (University Preparatory Course Kishukusha ⑨) is an interesting piece of architecture that proposed a new way of living for students. This was completed in 1938, exactly one year after the Yochisha. After the war, it was requisitioned by the Occupation Forces.

Was it that early? I also have many memories of Hiyoshi. In the year the war ended, I was a first-year student in the preparatory course of the Fujiwara Institute of Technology and went to Hiyoshi. Because there were Navy facilities, American carrier-based planes would occasionally fly over, and I remember everyone running away. I also went to school on August 15, and the teacher said, "Today there will be a message from His Majesty the Emperor, so you all should go home." Then, I listened to the Emperor's Jewel Voice Broadcast at a friend's house.

Currently, one of these three dormitory buildings (the South Dormitory) has been beautifully renovated and is still in use.

Inside the site, there was a large circular bath called the "Roman Bath" (⑩). There is an interesting history where, after the war, the Occupation Forces used it as a bar and danced around it. Eighty years ago, such a very innovative dormitory with these facilities was built. This is the Yochisha auditorium, Jisonkan (1964 ⑪). These are my father's representative architectural works at Keio that still exist today.

One day, I was called by Mr. Yoshiro Taniguchi, who said, "Mr. Maki, actually my son Yoshio is going to the Department of Architecture at Harvard starting this year." I was just about to start teaching at Harvard around that time, so he said, "If you see him, please look after him." When I actually went there as a faculty member, Mr. Taniguchi was one of the students.

That was in 1962. That was the first time I met Mr. Maki. Because I was shy about speaking in English, I kept speaking in Japanese, and after class, a classmate got angry at me, saying, "Why do you speak in Japanese? This is America, so speak in English." Another thing I remember is being quite hurt when someone said, "Is there really such a handsome Japanese man?" (laughs).

We architects, when the professor wasn't around, would work on our assigned tasks in the studio as we pleased, and when we got hungry in the middle of the night, we would go to a cheap place in Harvard Yard called Hayes-Bickford that was open all night. Do you remember Hayes-Bickford?

I remember it. It's a cafeteria now. Back then, we pulled all-nighters all the time, so we went there to eat often.

I always ate English muffins there. Even now, we have English muffins for breakfast at my house. How many years were you there?

In the end, from the time I left Japan in 1960 until I returned in 1964, I didn't come back once for four and a half years. Unlike now, back then you couldn't easily come home for summer vacation or talk over the internet or phone.

Since I had graduated from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Keio's Faculty of Engineering, I didn't have to take overlapping subjects, but I was made to do everything from architectural history to law. I went for a total of four years: a two-year bachelor's course and a two-year master's course. For the dormitory, I lived in the Graduate Center designed by Gropius. When were you there, Mr. Maki?

Since I had already studied architecture at the University of Tokyo, I only went for one year for the master's course. That was in 1953, and there were still architecture departments in both Robinson Hall and Hunt Hall; I also stayed in a double room in the dormitory designed by Gropius. Were you in a single room?

No, I lived in the dormitory with a student who aspired to be a diplomat. He taught me many things. For example, at that time, all Japanese men put pomade or oil in their hair, and he told me, "If you put such smelly stuff in, you won't be popular in America, so stop it" (laughs).

Mr. Taniguchi, you received the Appleton Prize at graduation, which is given to the person best at design, didn't you?

For that time, I received a significant amount of money. When I asked what my obligations were, they said there were none and I could use it for whatever I liked. In the end, I used that money to go with friends to MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York—which I later ended up designing—and I was able to save a little of the rest.

In 1968, I received a fellowship from the Graham Foundation in Chicago. This was also a very generous fellowship where I didn't have to do anything. The only obligation was to gather in Chicago for one week. They gave me 10,000 dollars, which at the exchange rate then was 3.6 million yen. This was at a time when the starting salary in Japan was about 20,000 yen.

I was teaching at Washington University at the time, and my annual income was 5,000 dollars, so I decided to spend two years traveling with that money. I went to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, and was able to have various experiences.

After graduation, I worked at an architectural firm in Boston for about six months and then returned to Japan.

Actually, I seem to be the first person to become a first-class architects and building engineers (Ikkyu-Kenchikushi) without having graduated from an architectural university in Japan. After returning to Japan, when I tried to take the first-class architect exam, I was told that a graduation qualification from a foreign university was not acceptable. Because the name was "Design School," in Japan it was considered interior design or fashion design, so I couldn't take the architect exam. They told me, "Translate the entire university catalog and bring it." When I submitted that, they said, "Now bring your diploma." When I took it, the Harvard diploma at the time was written entirely in Latin and they couldn't read it, so they were suspicious, but somehow I was allowed to take the architect exam.

The Keio University Library (New Building) (⑫) in Mita was my first job for Keio. Until then, I had been indebted to Keio, but I hadn't really done anything for them. Then I heard that Kisho Kurokawa wanted to do the Keio library. So, thinking that Keio was my territory (just like a yakuza), I did sales for the first time in my life (laughs).

I went to President Tadao Ishikawa and said, "Would you let me do the new library?" and he readily said, "Yes, go ahead," and I ended up designing the new library. The new library is a large building, but in the program, it was even larger. By making five underground floors for the stacks, I was able to keep it to this size. At the entrance, there is a sculpture by Yoshikuni Iida, and there are various things like prints by Keiji Usami and a sculpture by Haruhiko Yasuda. There is also a large mural by Jennifer Bartlett.

The Old Library was done by Tatsuzo Sone, a member of the first graduating class of the University of Tokyo. That was for Keio's 50th anniversary, and when I was asked to do the new library, it was the 125th anniversary, so 75 years had passed. When I checked the University of Tokyo alumni list, of course Mr. Sone was in the 1st class, and I was in the 74th class. We each designed a Keio library when we were almost the same age.

I also did the renovation of the Old Library, and the thing that troubled me most there was the color of the carpet. In the past, there were only black-and-white photos, so I didn't know what color it was. I hear that nowadays color can be reconstructed from black-and-white photos, but that wasn't possible back then.

After that, I was allowed to do the Hiyoshi Library (⑬). At the stadium in the foreground, there used to be frequent rugby matches between the Keio Futsubu School and the Commerce and Industry School. Soccer is very popular now, but at that time, Keio was traditionally about rugby. Everyone played rugby from a young age.

is Mr. Taniguchi's design, isn't it?

This was the first time I was involved in Keio's architecture. To explain the connection, in the December 1976 issue of Mita-hyoron (official monthly journal published by Keio University Press), the then head of the Yochisha, Mr. Goro Kawasaki, and my father had a dialogue about Yochisha architecture. And it ends with the talk, "Next, we might have to ask Mr. Taniguchi for a gymnasium." Since my father passed away, it came to me.

That was in 1987, right?

Yes, this was for the 110th anniversary of the founding of the Yochisha. In 1937, the year I was born, my father built the Yochisha Main Building, and 50 years later, this gymnasium was completed.

The next thing I was allowed to design was the Yochisha New Wing "Shinkan 21" (⑮). There is a dining hall called Keyaki Hall. My father's Yochisha architecture (Main Building, Jisonkan, Centennial Memorial Building, etc.) has various styles, but I decided to go with the modernism style of my father's early period around 1937 as much as possible, creating a building with a pure white feel.

We also use this Keyaki Hall when there are Yochisha meetings.

A while after building the Hiyoshi Library, I was called by President Ishikawa, who asked, "We are going to build a campus in Fujisawa, so would you do it?" I thought it would start right away, but there was an archaeological survey, and the start was delayed by about a year.

At that time, it was fashionable at other universities to build large buildings of tens of thousands of square meters, but President Ishikawa asked me to create a campus like a village, and the result was the SFC campus (⑯).

It is a place with a very rich natural feel, and thinking that it should have a sense of frontality, people coming to the campus enter from the front. Also, the library is the core of all university activities.

The large complex (group of buildings) on the south side of the campus is the Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School (⑰) designed by Yoshio Taniguchi.

I wanted to create a unique domain as a six-year integrated middle and high school within the university campus designed by Professor Maki. I conceived it as a courtyard-style structure, surrounded by general classrooms. In the center, I placed shared facilities like the library, special classrooms, and the gymnasium, with a plaza between them and the classrooms. I wanted to build a school that felt like a small town for the students to spend their six years in.

However, the problem with a courtyard style is that expansion is difficult. When I asked if they needed to worry about future additions, they said, "Expansion is out of the question. It would be difficult both in terms of assessment and legal restrictions," so I proceeded on that basis. Since then, however, it has been expanded twice (laughs).

My granddaughter is currently there as a user. This building is very characteristic of Mr. Taniguchi.

I created many places like plazas and alleys within the school building so that teachers and students could talk during breaks and friends could meet. Since there is no town surrounding the Fujisawa area, I created a fun space and various meeting places within the school.

The layout was a major challenge. Usually, schools are single-row buildings facing southeast, but I chose a courtyard style to create a space with as much bustle as possible. Since that changes the orientation for everyone, I paired the classrooms and placed light courts between them to bring in natural light indirectly. There were pros and cons to this, but I haven't heard of any major problems, so I am relieved.

On the north side of this campus, there is the Miraisozojuku (Institute for Designing the Future) that Professor Kobayashi is working on, isn't there?

Thank you. Currently, in the northernmost part of the site, we are creating the SFC Miraisozojuku (Institute for Designing the Future) Student Build Campus (SBC 19), where students take the lead. This project originally began during the 150th anniversary of Keio University with the goal of creating a campus for the future. Since 2014, faculty, staff, alumni, and current students have been working together on this project. In 2016, the first phase, Residential Wing 1, was completed, and Residential Wing 2 followed a year or two later.

Also, the seismic retrofitting of the Old University Library at Mita is mostly finished, and there is talk of holding an exhibition regarding the history of the Juku. We are currently discussing with those involved to turn the large central space into a historical exhibition room. There is a plan to display exhibits about the history of the Juku while preserving only the exterior of the former large conference room, the curtains, and the colored parts of the central carpet. This is the history of the Juku buildings we have worked on.

There was one more important thing. The Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture, Kanazawa (20) was newly established in Kanazawa City.

Kanazawa City has many modern buildings, including historical structures from the Kaga Domain era and brick buildings from the Meiji era. Kazuyo Sejima is here today, and the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, designed by her and Ryue Nishizawa, is a wonderful piece of contemporary architecture. I also designed the D.T. Suzuki Museum, though it is a small building.

As a result, many people now come to Kanazawa to see the architecture. Kanazawa City built an architectural museum on the site of the house where my father grew up and where I evacuated during the war. That "Yoshiro and Yoshio Taniguchi Museum of Architecture, Kanazawa" opened in the summer of this year (2019).

In the permanent exhibition room, the Japanese-style annex's washitsu (Japanese room) and tea room from the Akasaka Palace State Guest House in Tokyo, which my father designed, have been reconstructed exactly as they were.

I turned 90 last year (2018). When I invited some close friends, I gave them a copy of this drawing (21). The top left is me at age 25 during my Harvard days; below that is me with architects Aldo Rossi, James Stirling, and Van Eyck at an international conference in Persepolis, Iran. The bottom right is at age 70. The top is the present.

To the question, "Why are you still working?" I answer, "Well, architects are always chasing a carrot" (laughs). I think this is the same for Mr. Taniguchi and all architects. If there is something to be done, we run like this horse.

When people saw this, everyone was asking, "Is the horse Mr. Maki, the client, or the staff? Which one is it?" (laughs).

Keio's campuses will need to continue undergoing various updates. In such times, what should we think about to deepen Keio's architecture? I would love to hear from both of you about your expectations for Keio's future, or the architecture and architectural education that Keio must pursue.

Through various connections, I have been involved in Keio's architecture. The initial reason my father designed the Yochisha Elementary School was that Professor Maki's uncle, Tomoo Maki, visited my father's office. At that time, the only thing Tomoo Maki said to my father was, "The founding spirit of Yukichi Fukuzawa resides in Keio's architecture. I want you to carry that forward." That story has remained very vivid in my memory.

There are various connections in life. As I mentioned, I made full use of the Yochisha, and later, I met Yoshio Taniguchi for the first time when he went to Harvard. I can say it was a very pleasant encounter. I still feel very strongly that I want to cherish those connections.

Architectural education is now gradually beginning at Keio as well. What kind of future do you hope to see for the lineage of Keio architects?

Keio does not have a department of architecture, but according to what I heard from my father, there seem to have been various attempts in the past. In Japan's case, architecture departments often belong to the Faculty of Science and Technology or engineering departments due to the demand for buildings that can withstand earthquakes and fires. However, that leads away from the field of design.

If a new department could be established at Keio that strikes a good balance between the demand for engineering and a focus on design, I think it would be something very unique.

Thank you. We are trying to take on exactly that kind of challenge right now, and we are exploring what kind of education will allow the people who grow up there to be active in and serve society. It is very important to work together on what has been done in the Faculty of Science and Technology and what has been done at SFC, and we aim to incorporate new educational fields there.

Today, the two of you have spoken about the lineage and history of Keio architecture. I believe that by tracing this history, we can see the future once again. Thank you very much.