The Connecting Corridor Between the Library and the Research Building

2020/10/26

Image: 1995. The North Annex (now the North Building), completed the previous year, is visible in the background.

Passing between the Old University Library and the First Research Building and gently descending the hill leads to the Mita North Gate. Half a century ago, there were only a few two-story wooden buildings, including "Yamashoku," and the sky opened up wide, allowing a view of the base of Tokyo Tower from the top of the slope. However, when the new Research Building (two basement levels and seven floors above ground) was erected at the end of 1969, the path between them suddenly became cramped. The sense of congestion increased further when a suspicious and precarious-looking elevated corridor was hastily installed to connect the third floor of the Research Building with the library stacks. Nevertheless, that corridor was one of the key facilities of the Mita Media Center, which was established the following year through the organizational integration of the library and the research building's library. First, dissatisfaction grew among faculty members of the Faculties of Law, Business and Commerce, and Economics, who had offices on the upper floors of the Research Building. They complained that access to the library stacks was terrible. Similar problems were predicted for the operations of the Media Center, which was to use one-third of the space in the Research Building closest to the library. Because all back-office operations were moved to the Research Building facilities and service departments were split between the library side and the research side specialized for faculty use, its functions were divided.

Therefore, as a desperate measure by the Facilities Department, construction of a "connecting corridor" to link the second floor of the Library's Third Stacks (the third floor in terms of building structure) and the third floor of the Research Building—which was not in the original construction plan—was added. The corridor was approximately 14 meters long and 1.8 meters wide; while it appeared straight and parallel from the outside, it had a slight right dogleg from the Research Building side and was also sloped. Due to this shape, one had to lean forward when moving toward the library and lean backward when going the other way. Perhaps to ensure structural strength, not a single window was installed, giving it a gloomy atmosphere. For library operations, it was essential to move large quantities of materials on book trucks between the two facilities, and this somewhat thrilling task was repeated daily.

The elevated corridor in question existed until around the summer of 2018, but it was removed during the seismic retrofitting of the Old University Library and has now become a piece of local lore.

(Masatoshi Shibukawa, former Director of the Keio University Research and Education Information Center Administration Office)