Architecture of the Noguchi Room at Keio University

As a space, the Noguchi Room harmonized a conversation lounge with the surrounding architecture, sculpture, and gardens. Here we’ll consider the room’s characteristics, while exploring the ideas of Noguchi, the space’s creator. First, please watch this video. Further explanation is provided in the text below.

Embodying the ideals of Keio

The Second Faculty Building, like other buildings on the Mita Campus designed by Taniguchi, had a sharp, linear form with minimal ornamentation in the style of modern architecture. It’s vertically-long upper and lower windows were inspired by the Enzetsu-kan.

This building housed the research offices of university faculty. It was built on a site adjacent to the Enzetsu-kan, and therefore in designing this building—later called the New Banraisha—Taniguchi sought out affinities with the guiding principles of Keio, as exemplified in the Enzetsu-kan, the building with the longest tradition on the Mita Campus. Aside from structural form, the space allowed students and faculty to meet on an equal footing and learn from each other, thus realizing the hangaku hankyo (“half-learning and half-teaching”) approach that Keio aspires to.

^{The building labeled 11 in the map is the Second Faculty Building. The building labeled 1 is the Mita Enzetsu-kan. (Source: Keio University: 100 Years of History (in Japanese) Vol. 2, edited by Keio University, 1968)}

Structural principles of the interior design

As shown in the video, the conversation lounge designed by Noguchi used many curves, in contrast to the building’s external form. Gentle curves responsive to the room’s shape were also used in the furniture created for the room, especially the benches, tables, and fireplace.

<sup>Elevation of Second Faculty Building. The linearity characteristic of modern architecture is clearly evident.Click to take a closer look

Floor plan of Second Faculty Building. On the west side of the first floor is the Noguchi Room. Click to take a closer look</sup>

^{Floor plan of the Noguchi Room. Many curves, including a perfectly circular fireplace, are used in contrast to the rectangular outer frame. Click to take a closer look}

Noguchi tried to incorporate his own identity into this work, fusing East and West. This is particularly evident in the floor surfaces. The design integrates a stone floor section with chairs where people can wear shoes, a section with flooring where people can either sit or stand, and an alcove section with tatami. This diversity enables all sorts of activities in the space. A circular fireplace is positioned as the center, playing a centripetal role.

^{Circular fireplace at the center of the space (©Shigeo Anzaï (Source: Kajima Institute Publishing))}

^{By providing three floor surfaces at different heights—a stone floor, a wooden floor, and a raised tatami area, Noguchi adapted the room to suit both Western and Eastern lifestyles. (Photo: Takeshi Taira Source: Keio University Art Center)}

^{Sketches of furniture. Benches and tables are drawn with gentle curves.}

Noguchi tried to reconcile not only East and West, but also conflicting materials. In the Noguchi Room, organic materials such as wood and rushes are used in the floor and furniture, while concrete, an industrial material, is used for the circular columns flanking the fireplace and the square columns of the stone floor. These contrasts are especially striking if you look up at the ceiling where wood panels and concrete form a distinct boundary line.

^{There are steps on the ceiling as well as the floor, creating a multilayered effect in the space. (Photo: Takeshi Taira, Source: Keio University Art Center)}

^{Natural materials like the rattan and rushes of the floor, ceiling panels and furniture, and the stone of the floor, coexist with the concrete of the columns. (©Shigeo Anzaï (Source: Kajima Institute Publishing))}

Through Noguchi’s design, the conflicting materials entered into dialogue, forming a unified space with a tranquil flow of time. And that is precisely what he was aiming for. Noguchi tried to create an environment where people reflect, like Katsura Imperial Villa or Shisen-do in Kyoto, which he saw prior to this project.

The environment is created through a dialogue and fusion of natural and artificial materials. In Noguchi’s design, this dynamic extended beyond the interior of the conversation lounge. It was enhanced by the building’s front court and west court—designed in parallel with the interior by Noguchi—and the three sculptures he placed there.

Architecture, sculpture, and gardens

Like the Noguchi Room, the gardens designed by Noguchi employed curves. This created a pleasant contrast with the horizontal and vertical linearity of the Second Faculty Building. The juxtaposition of undulating, organic contours against the straight lines of the architecture gave rise to a characteristic look. Sculptures made from iron, an artificial material, were placed in the gardens as strong accents.

^{Positional relationships of the Noguchi Room, the surrounding front court, and sculptures (Layout drawing of Second Faculty Building (Drawing published in the February 1952 issue of Shinkenchiku (New Architecture) with sculpture names and Noguchi Room indicated) Source: Fujio Maeda “The Problem of Preserving the Noguchi Room / Second Faculty Building” (in Japanese), Keio University Art Center Annual Report 10)}

^{View of garden from second floor of the Second Faculty Building. Wakai Hito was later relocated close to Mu. (©Shigeo Anzaï (Source: Kajima Institute Publishing))}

The gardens do not exist independently. Noguchi designed them to be related with the conversation lounge inside. That is, he designed the Noguchi Room to only exhibit its full effect through the relation and harmonization of each element—architecture, gardens, sculpture, and conversation lounge—based on calculations of the scenes visible from inside. This is evident, for example, in how Mu on the west side of the building sometimes captured the setting sun in its ring, creating a sight that looked, from inside, like a garden lantern. Also, the distinction between inside and outside is weakened, and continuity is emphasized, by reducing the height difference between the stone floor and wood flooring, and bringing the openings up to the floor.

^{Garden and Mu seen from inside the Noguchi Room (©Shigeo Anzaï (Source: Kajima Institute Publishing))}

The Noguchi Room was an extremely important work—not only because of these complex interactions between different types of art, but also because this was the first spatial design carried out by Noguchi. This was an example of what is known as “site specific” art—art which can no longer exist if one of its elements is taken away. However, as will be seen in subsequent Steps, this precious cultural property was lost.