1999/05/01
Published inJuku, No. 219, 1999
Born at the dawn of Japan's modernization, Keio University has played a major role as a driving force in various fields of society, including politics, economics, education, and culture. The enterprising Fukuzawa spirit has also left a significant mark on Japan's modern architectural and art history.
This article introduces the individuals who made significant contributions to the post-World War II reconstruction of the Keio University campus, and their works.
Mita Campus Second Faculty Building "Shin Banraisha / Noguchi Room"
The buildings and facilities of Keio University suffered extensive damage during World War II, but reconstruction began with the 90th anniversary of the university's founding in 1947 (Showa 22) as a catalyst.
When discussing the post-war reconstruction of the Keio University campus, there is an indispensable figure: the architect Yoshiro Taniguchi, a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Throughout his life, Taniguchi designed various buildings for Keio University (see the table below). Among these, one of his best-known masterpieces is the Second Faculty Building on the Keio University Mita Campus (winner of the Architectural Institute of Japan Prize in 1951). This building is located on the site of the former Banraisha, which was built by Yukichi Fukuzawa.
Amid the post-war chaos, Taniguchi, who had been entrusted with the reconstruction of the school buildings by then-President Kōji Ushioda, contemplated the significance of the Mita Hilltop Square site while also thinking about how to embody the vibrant spirit of a new era within an architectural space. This led to the concept for the Second Faculty Building and its lounge hall on the south side of the first floor, the Shin Banraisha.
He later recalled, "The site where the new [Second] Faculty Building was to be built was the former location of the 'Banraisha,' which Yukichi Fukuzawa had established in the early Meiji era. It was destroyed in the war. Therefore, the newly built 'Shin Banraisha' needed to be a new successor to the Fukuzawa spirit. Consequently, I thought the architecture should also have a new, open design in response." Thus, what would normally have been just a small lounge space within the Second Faculty Building, lined with professors' offices, held great significance for the up-and-coming architect Taniguchi.
Buildings at Keio Designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi
● Yochisha Elementary School Building (Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, 1937)
● University Preparatory Course Kishukusha (Hiyoshi Dormitory) (Minowa-cho, Yokohama, 1938)
● Chutobu Junior High School Mita Building (Mita, Minato-ku, 1948)
● Yochisha Elementary School Joint Classroom Building (Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, 1948)
● University Third School Building, No. 4 (Mita, Minato-ku, 1949)
● Office of Correspondence Courses (Mita, Minato-ku, 1949)
● University Second School Building (No. 5) (Mita, Minato-ku, 1949)
● University Student Hall (Mita, Minato-ku, 1949)
● University Hospital, Ward Ha (Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, 1950)
● University Second Faculty Building (Shin Banraisha) (Mita, Minato-ku, 1951)
● Girls' Senior High School First Building (No. 3) (Mita, Minato-ku, 1951)
● Keio Futsubu School Hiyoshi Building (Hiyoshi-honcho, Yokohama, 1951)
● Girls' Senior High School Second Building (No. 4) (Mita, Minato-ku, 1952)
● University Hospital, Ward Ho (Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, 1952)
● University Third Faculty Building (Mita, Minato-ku, 1952)
● University Athletic Association Headquarters (Mita, Minato-ku, 1952)
● University Hospital Special Ward (Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, 1954)
● University School of Medicine, Basic Medical Sciences First Building (Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, 1956)
● Chutobu Junior High School Mita Building (Mita, Minato-ku, 1956)
● University School of Medicine, Basic Medical Sciences Third Building (Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, 1957)
● Monument Commemorating the Birthplace of Keio University (Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, 1958)
● Jisonkan (Auditorium of Keio Yochisha Elementary School) (Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, 1964)
● Yochisha Elementary School Centennial Building (Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, 1976)
The Meeting of Yoshiro Taniguchi and Isamu Noguchi
In the early summer of 1950, as Taniguchi was developing the concept for the Shin Banraisha, an important figure emerged who would greatly help bring this concept to fruition: the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Noguchi, who had come to Japan in May of that year, was introduced to Taniguchi by then-President Kōji Ushioda.
Noguchi resonated with Taniguchi's concept and, with his recommendation, came to be in charge of the interior design and spatial composition for the facility at Keio University, where his own father had once been a professor. The spatial design of the Shin Banraisha is renowned in the history of modernist design. Furthermore, the sculptures installed in the adjacent garden, "Mu" (Nothingness) (1950–51), "Wakai Hito" (Young Person) (1950), and "Gakusei" (Student) (1951), are also well known as Noguchi's masterpieces. Additionally, within the hall, along with the interior that includes furniture and fixtures, there are also separate works of furniture: one large bench, one bench, one table, one coffee table, and four stools. These would later become known as masterpieces of his interior design. Eventually, the Shin Banraisha came to be called the "Noguchi Room."
The meeting between Taniguchi, the architect who sought to give spatial form to the new communication of the era, and Noguchi, the sculptor with a trans-art perspective that freely crossed artistic genres and cultural spheres, must be described as a noteworthy event in the modernist art scene, even when viewed against the backdrop of 20th-century world art history.
Now, as the concept and methods of environmental art gain prominence, the Shin Banraisha / Noguchi Room, the fruit of the collaboration between architect Yoshiro Taniguchi and sculptor Isamu Noguchi, will likely see its significance grow even more.
Yoshiro Taniguchi
Architect: 1904 (Meiji 37)–1979 (Showa 54). Born in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture. Graduated from the Department of Architecture, Faculty of Engineering, Tokyo Imperial University in 1928 (Showa 3), and completed his graduate studies at the same university in 1930 (Showa 5). He joined the faculty of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1929 (Showa 4) and retired in 1965 (Showa 40). Aiming to achieve a harmony between modernity and tradition, he designed numerous buildings and monuments, including the Toson Memorial Museum (1947), the Togu Palace (1960), and The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo (1969), playing a leading role in Japan's post-war architectural world. His activities were wide-ranging, not limited to the world of architecture. His son, Yoshio Taniguchi, was involved in the architecture of the Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School.